HALIYAL: Haliyal witnessed a flash protest followed by the imposition of Section 144 as a safety measure when hundreds of people took to the street demanding to stop the construction of a pavement around a temple belonging to Haliyal village deity -- Gramya Devi.

Thousands of devotees thronged the temple in the town where the municipality authorities have planned to construct pavements around the temple. They all assembled in the temple, prayed to the Goddess and took to the streets raising slogans against the municipality authorities.

They went out in a procession demanding that the pavement they have put should be removed and the encroachment around the temple should be cleared. “We have been worshipping here for centuries. The Banni Tree here is a sacred one for us during the Vijayadashmi. They are trying to clear it based on instigation by some people,” said Mangesh Deshpande, president of the Gramya Devi Temple Trust.

The protesters then brought in earth movers and removed the pavement. A verbal duel ensued when the police intervened and tried to argue with the agitators. BJP leader and former MLA Sunil Hegde, who arrived at the spot, gave a dressing down to the officials questioning them on whose authority they had taken the decision. “Would you have done the same if the place of worship belonged to some other religion,” he asked.

The agitators removed the pavement and fixed a saffron flag warning the authorities not to remove it. “I have told officials that the encroachment should be cleared and our temple land should be returned,” he said.

Uttara Kannada SP N Vishnuvardhan said the agitators had suddenly decided to protest. “We had made our preparations and there was no untoward incident,” he told TNIE and adding that two units of DAR and local police were pressed into service.

(Source: New Indian Express)