Banke Bihari temple priests threaten to 'relocate Thakurji' over corridor redevelopment plan
AGRA: Priests of the centuries-old Banke Bihari temple in Mathura, who are opposed to the proposed 'redevelopment plan for the Banke Bihari corridor in Vrindavan', alleged on Monday, that if govt does not heed their concerns, they will relocate the Banke Bihari deity to another site.
The latest development came after a series of protests by the Goswami community members and locals against the proposed corridor and the creation of the Banke Bihari temple trust by the state govt.
Ghanshyam Goswami, 60, a member of the management committee, said, "The problem is that the govt wants to turn this place of faith into a picnic spot. The Banke Bihari Trust was formed without consulting us. We're open to suggestions for improving the management of the temple but if this situation continues, we'll not hesitate to move Thakurji out of the temple.
This temple was founded by our forefathers, and the customs and traditions here date back to the 19th century.
"
The Supreme Court, in its May 15 verdict, permitted the UP govt to continue with the 'Rs 500 cr redevelopment plan for the Shri Banke Bihari temple corridor in Vrindavan'. The project, approved by the bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice SC Sharma, enables the state to utilise temple funds to acquire about 5 acres of land near the shrine.
Calls for redevelopment intensified after a stampede-like incident took place during the Janmashtami celebrations in 2022, which resulted in two fatalities. In Sept 2023, Allahabad high court directed the state govt to implement a corridor plan to manage crowds and ensure safety. Although the state said it engaged with all stakeholders, Shebaits and local residents have claimed they were excluded from discussions.
On Monday, Agra's divisional commissioner Shailendra Kumar Singh, Mathura DM Chandra Prakesh Singh, Agra range DIG Shailesh Kumar Pandey and additional officials held a meeting with the stakeholders to seek a resolution.
Shailendra Kumar Singh said, "The proposed corridor has been cleared by the SC. The locals have raised some issues, and we have reached out to them. In the issues related to the temple, we ensured that no change will be there to the customs and traditions of the temple. Shopkeepers had doubts related to compensation, and we cleared them. The streets in and around the temple are narrow and unsuitable for the influx of people who visit the temple daily, so this corridor will be beneficial for all the stakeholders.
"
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
22 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Following leopard attacks that left minor girl dead, woman injured in separate incidents, Gujarat village on edge
A week after a 9-year-old girl was allegedly dragged away and killed by a leopard, and three days after a 40-year-old woman was injured in another such attack, a village in Gujarat continues to be on edge with forest department teams of two other districts deployed in the area to locate the big cat. The officers from Banaskantha and Kevadia districts are also trying to ascertain if the attacks in Kolvan village of Sagbara taluka in Narmada district were carried out by the same animal or two different leopards. The village has seen multiple protests by residents, prompting the elected representatives to get involved in the matter. The forest department, meanwhile, has deployed trap cages and cameras and invited teams of experts to help catch the leopard. The first incident occurred on May 27, when the minor girl, Shreyal Vasava, was allegedly dragged from outside her house and mauled by a leopard. The second incident took place on Sunday when a woman, Bebi Vasava, was allegedly attacked by a leopard while she was sleeping in her hut in her farm. Though she was rescued by villagers who had arrived at the scene on hearing her screams, she suffered injuries on her hands and legs besides losing a part of her right ear. Following protests in Kolvan village, forest officials handed over a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased minor. Range Forest Officer (RFO) Sagbara Abhay Singh told The Indian Express, 'We have installed 10 trap cages and trap cameras, and also taken help of drone cameras. A special tranquilisation team from Banaskantha, which has helped rescue leopards that stray into revenue areas, has been roped in. We also have one specialist team from the zoo from Kevadia that is helping us understand the behaviour of the wild leopards…' Singh said the forest officials are first addressing the question if the two attacks have been carried out by the same leopard. Singh said, 'The first question is whether the two leopards are same or different. We are trying to ascertain the same by examining pug marks from 550 periphery areas and zeroing down on the routes that the leopard might have taken… We are hopeful that in the next couple of days, we will be able to rescue it.' Singh said since the girl and the woman were attacked within a space of two kilometers, it was likely that the leopard in both the cases is the same. 'The woman, who is the second victim, is also of a small build like the 9-year-old. In leopard attacks, the size of the victim is also of consequence. There is a big possibility that it could be the same leopard but we are trying to confirm this through examination and probe. We have been regularly shifting the cages to increase the chance of the leopard being trapped,' Singh added. Even though the forest department is confident of catching the leopard in a few days, the villagers don't share the optimism. Anil Valvi, the brother of Bebi, said, 'It has been over a month since the leopard attacks have increased in the area and a single person venturing out close to sunset is risky now … We all are scared. The forest department is setting up cages but leopards do not walk into traps these days. They must tranquilise and catch the leopard…' Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava, who visited Bebi on Tuesday, said a 'taskforce' should be formed to deal with the human-leopard conflict in the region. 'I will appeal to the government to form a special taskforce to tackle the problem of the leopard-human conflict. Now, more leopards are straying into the areas of human habitation from the forests and steps must be taken to resolve the problem,' said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
HC judge links bail orders to planting saplings
1 2 Cuttack: In an innovative approach to justice, Justice S K Panigrahi of the Orissa high court has been making planting saplings a key condition for granting bail in criminal cases. Over 70 recent bail orders have included requirements for planting between 50 and 1,000 saplings. The bail conditions, imposed during the first fortnight of May, apply to various criminal cases, including murder, rape, assault, cheating, cyber crime, economic offences, theft and NDPS Act violations. Under the new conditions, bail applicants must plant local species such as mango, neem and tamarind on govt, community or private land. The revenue authority will assist in identifying suitable plantation sites if needed, while district nurseries and divisional forest officers will provide the saplings. "The petitioners must file an affidavit after plantation and maintain the trees for two years," Justice Panigrahi stated in his orders. Local police stations, in coordination with forest officers, will monitor compliance. In addition to planting saplings, some bail orders include sanitation service requirements. Several accused have been directed to clean police station premises for two months, with cleaning materials provided by the respective stations. Standard bail conditions remain in place, including weekly police station visits and restrictions against engaging in criminal activities or witness intimidation. While the accused maintain their innocence, claiming false implication in cases, the court has granted bail without detailed examination of the allegations, focusing instead on rehabilitation conditions.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
LGBTQIA+ couples have right to find a family: Madras high court
Madras high court CHENNAI: Though Supreme Court has not legalised same-sex marriage, individuals can still form a family, Madras high court has said, adding: 'Marriage is not the sole mode to find a family. The concept of a 'chosen family' is now well settled and acknowledged in LGBTQIA+ jurisprudence.' A division bench of Justices G R Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan made the observation on May 22, while setting at liberty a 25-year-old lesbian woman, who was forcefully separated from her partner and subjected to harassment by her family. 'Not every parent is like Justice Leila Seth. She could acknowledge and accept her son's sexual orientation,' the judges said. 'The mother of the detenue is no Leila Seth. We could understand her feelings and temperament. She wants her daughter to be like any other normal, heterosexual woman, get married and settle down in life. We endeavoured in vain to impress upon her that her daughter, being an adult, is entitled to choose a life of her own,' they added. Also, deprecating the use of the word 'queer' to identify non-heterosexual individuals, the judges said: 'We feel a certain discomfort in employing the expression 'queer'. Any standard dictionary defines this word as meaning strange or odd. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 가상화폐 3개이상 가지고 있다면 '이렇게'해라 크립토시그널 더 알아보기 Queering one's pitch means spoiling the show.' 'To a homosexual individual, his/her/their sexual orientation must be perfectly natural and normal. There is nothing strange or odd about such inclinations. Why then should they be called queer?' they asked. The court further placed on record that the jurisdictional police behaved in an insensitive manner in the issue by forcing the detenue to go with her parents. 'We censure the rank inaction on the part of police and the insensitivity shown by them. We hold that govt officials, in particular the jurisdictional police, have a duty to expeditiously and appropriately respond whenever complaints of this nature are received from the members of the LGBTQIA+ community,' the court said. The court then restrained the detenue's family members from interfering with her personal liberty and issued a writ of continuing mandamus to the jurisdictional police to afford adequate protection to the detenue and her partner who moved the habeas corpus petition.
