News Report
MUMBAI, INDIA, November 19, 2003. Roadside shrines that are beneath or alongside trees may escape demolition by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A BMC circular has asked its officers to decide for themselves whether to demolish shrines adjacent to obstructions such as trees. BMC feels that since a tree cannot be hacked, it would continue to pose an obstruction to traffic irrespective of the shrine’s presence which does not serve the purpose of the public interest litigation (PIL) that seeks the demolition of illegal shrines to clear the city’s roads and pavements of traffic bottlenecks. The petitioner, a local atheist, expressed surprise at the BMC’s interpretation of his PIL, which had been unexpectedly successful. “Don’t regular devotees who visit such shrines create congestion on roads and pavements?” he asked. Hindu shrines are likely to be the main beneficiaries of the new directive, since almost 70 percent of them exist beneath trees, according to civic officials. Most Hindu temples exist beneath peepul or banyan trees, which are considered sacred.