Bandra Catholics get 30 days to prove legality of crosses

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has decided to formulate a policy on religious structures, based on the Supreme Court's directive to protect pre-1964 religious structures. The BMC had issued demolition notices for crosses in Bandra (west) but Catholic groups objected to this.

The seven-day cut-off date granted by the BMC has been extended to a month after local politicians intervened.

The decision was taken at a meeting held with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, when a delegation of elected representatives, Congress parliamentarian Priya Dutt and legislator Baba Siddiqui called on him along with Catholic groups to resolve the issue on Tuesday.

"The CM gave us a good hearing. We told the CM that all religious structures before 1964 should be protected. The CM was of the view that they will be protected. But the state government has decided to formulate a policy on religious structures and submit an affidav in the SC to protect religious structures before 1964," said Siddiqui.

Siddiqui said the CM would tell municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar to grant four weeks to Catholic groups to submit evidence to the BMC on the legality of the crosses.

"Since the BMC notices cannot be withdrawn, we will have to follow the due course of law, by submitting evidence. Since the BMC has misplaced documents submitted in 2003 by Catholic groups we have sought four weeks to gather evidence," said Siddiqui.

Meanwhile, Naseem Khan, minorities' welfare minister and guardian minister of the suburbs, supported the Catholic groups. He requested Kumar to re-examine the grievances of the Catholics on the legality of the age-old crosses as it was a sensitive issue.

"Since the onus is on the BMC, I have requested the civic chief to permit at least a month's time to gather evidence," Khan said.

courtesy:TOI