VMC's move to demolish 500-year-old ''Dargah'' opposed

Vadodara, Apr 30 (UNI) Members of the minority community in the walled city area here have strongly protested the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC)'s move to demolish a 500-year-old ''Dargah'' for encroaching the road near the historic Champaner Gate.

Tension prevailed in the minority-dominated Fatehpura police station area where the ''Dargah'' is located as the civic authorities, which issued a demolition notice recently, plan to execute the demolition drive tomorrow under full security.

Even as the famous ''Dargah'' stands on the road divider, the local Muslim residents had decided to oppose the civic authorities move to demolish the structure saying that the VMC's action was in violation of the Supreme Court order which reportedly bars the authorities from demolishing any religious structure built before 1947.

Claiming it to be a protected monument which received due attention even during the Gaekwad reign, former councillor Manzoorkhan Pathan and Adv M T Reffai, who led a delegation and submitted memoranda to Mayor Sunil Solanki and VMC Commissioner Rohit Pathak yesterday, said their community was prepared to extend all co-operation to the authorities in their on-going anti-encroachment drive in the city provided all religious places built before 1947 are left untouched.

Despite the communal tension, the authorities are firm on their decision to go ahead with their plan to demolish the Champaner ''Dargah'' as well as a couple of temples encroaching on the roads in the posh R C Dutt Road and Nizampura areas of the city.

A VMC security official speaking on condition of anonimity said all these illegal religious structures would be razed to the ground within the next 24 hours.

UNI SS MAZ PA RN2139