By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: In wake of violent protest by people during the anti encroachment drive in historical places, on Wednesday the district administration announced that it has no plans to restrict religious activities at these historical places.
The district administration following High Court’s decision and requests from Archealogical Survey of India (ASI) has initiated an anti encroachment drive in Bada Imambara on Monday. However, the drive led to clashes between the administration and the protesters. The employees of Hussainabad and Allied Trust (HAT) which controls these monuments were also roughed up during the drive. Protestors alleged that it is a ploy by the administration to prevent religious activities at Bada Imambara.
OP Pathak (ADM, Lucknow and Secretary, HAT) and others
“We are following High Court’s verdict and there is no plan to restrict religious activities in Bada Imambara. It is a malicious campaign spread by the encroachers to safeguard their interests and scuttle the move to remove them,” said ADM and Secretary, HAT, OP Pathak on Wednesday.
The HAT controls the historical monuments as Bada Imambara, Chota Imambara, Picture Gallery, Shahnajaf Imambara, Roomi gate and Clock Tower besides others at Lucknow. These monuments are centres of religious activities of Shia community as majlis, matam and prayer. However, all these monuments are under heavy illegal encroachment.
Previous week encroachments as illegal garages were removed from the premises of Shahnajaf Imambara. However, the drive was abandoned following protest by people who claimed that it is an infringement on their religious rights.
“We are acting as per law and have served three notices to the encroachers in these monuments. Some of them were tenants of HAT in the past but there allotment has been cancelled after High Court’s verdict. The drive is against the illegal encroachments and has nothing to do with religious activities,” said OP Pathak.
Responding to a query, Pathak admitted that encroachers also include high profile persons but he maintained that everyone will be treated as per the law. He also denied that the women were manhandled during the anti encroachment drive. “We will soon again undertake the anti encroachment drive but no date has been finalized yet,” he said.