Ponda: Marcaim village in Ponda was tensed ahead of the annual zatra festivities of the Navdurga Temple which has been in the eye of a storm over the ownership of the temple for the past decade.
Marcaim village and in particular the premises of the temple has been deployed with heavy police presence as locals have been gathering around the premises leading to tense moments.
The annual zatra is to be celebrated on December 1 and 2, however, on the eve of the festivities Mahajans filed a petition in the District and Sessions Court at Ponda alleging that around three members of the Navdurga Prathistan, ie the locals, had broke opened the locker of the temple customery premises. According to the petition, the Mahajans claimed that on November 28, the articles of zatra stored in the customery were shifted to another place by the Prathistan members.
Public gathered outside the Court premises too to have a firsthand record of the proceedings to the petition involving the locals and the Mahajans.
Locals gathered at Navdurga Temple on Friday evening said that villagers of seven wards of Marcaim celebrate and take part in the procession of Rath in Zatra and that nobody can stop them celebrating the Zatra festival.
Advocate Vivek Dandekar who is representing the locals informed that the Court has directed the locals to file their written reply in the matter. He further said that the Mahajans have filed another application requesting the Court to conduct the inventory of the articles in the temple’s customery.
“Accordingly, the Court has directed the bailiff of the Court to take the inventory of all the articles which are shifted out and other allied material which have been taken and damaged and to keep them in safe custody by storing them in customery premises of the temple, till the application for temporary injunction is decided. The bailiff has been directed to hand over the keys to the Court on December 1 at 2.20 pm, ahead of the hearing. The Court has fixed the further hearing on December 1 at 4 pm”, Dandekar stated.
He further said that the matter over right of ownership of temple and the idol has been subjudice in the District Court since 2016.
Dandekar said “Further in this issue the Bombay High Court at Goa in its order in 2016 had already directed the Mahajans as well as locals to celebrate the Zatra by allowing right of each other and peacefully.”
He further informed that the ownership right has not been proved by the Mahajans who are claiming it is as private temple. “Since the temple receives donations it cannot be called as private”, Dandekar said.
