Regularise Rumdamol temple in interest of peace: Locals

MARGAO, JAN 5
Residents and devotees of Shri Swami Samarth Temple, Rumdamol Housing Board on Tuesday urged the Rumdamol Panchayat body to regularize the construction of the temple in the interest of peace and harmony in the village.
In a memorandum submitted to the panchayat, the devotees requested the panchayat to regularize the Shri Swami Samarth Temple in view of the resolution unanimously adopted by the panchayat way back in 2008.
Terming the demolition notice issued by the panchayat as totally biased, arbitrary and discriminatory in nature, the devotees sought to know by action is being initiated only against the temple, when there are many other illegal structures towards illegal structures.
On the construction of the religious structure in an open space, the devotees pointed out that even the Under Secretary, Revenue on September 24, 2008 had informed the Collector that the property surveyed under No 95/1 and 2 of Davorlim village is not a government land, but the property belongs to the Goa Housing Board, which is an autonomous body.
They said the Panchayat has deliberately  not addressed notices, demolition notices to the President of Shri Swami Samarth Temple to deny him the reasonable opportunity to prove the legality of the Temple, thus violating the principles of natural justice and fair play.
Meanwhile, Temple President Jayesh Naik told newsmen this evening that the Panchayat body should immediately regularize the temple in the interest of peace and harmony.
Referring to the decision of the Deputy Director of Panchayats, South directing the Rumdamol Panchayat to hold the matter in abeyance, Naik said the government should come out with a clear policy to regularize the religious structure.
“The government should stop postponing the matter to a future date. Instead, it should solve the matter by regularizing the structure”, he demanded.Saying that the ball now lies in the court of the government, Jayesh said that the government has before them various options, including regularization of the religious structure.
He said the residents of the Housing Board locality are agitated over the decision of the Panchayat body to issue the demolition notice and warned that it will not take much time for the residents to demand dissolution of the Panchayat body.