Banashankari

Domlur

Indira canteen

Indira

BJP

BBMP

Kalyana Mantap

Hari

Anand Nagarajan

In, canteen to come up on temple land; in, trees make way for itThe Siddaramaiah government’s ambitousis already facing rough weather. While in Banashankari, there is a row building around the land chosen for it, in Domlur, the felling of a huge tree has caused jitters.TheCanteen in Banashankari is being built in the Banashankari Temple premises.leaders allege the property was given to the temple authorities, but the government has declared it as land for an Indira Canteen. A H Basavaraj, former corporator from BJP, alleged, “This land was supposed to be given to the temple, so that a complex or a Kalyana Mantapa could be built. Work on the Indira canteen here must be stopped immediately. They can allocate some other land for it. We have also told the authorities to look at other options.”BJP leader Prakash Sesharaghavachar alleged, “The Banashankari Temple is a sacred place of worship, which will now house the Indira Canteen inside its premises.The Congress has brazenly misused the land. TheCommissioner is interested only to meet the deadline of August 15 and will let the canteen come up wherever he finds spac.”Lakshmi, Executive Officer, Sri Banashankari Temple, told Bangalore Mirror, “It is the temple’s property. Though the land is not inside the temple premises, we had planned to build athere at a cost of Rs 23 crore. When I fought for this, the BBMP officials told me that this is a cabinet order and I must follow it. I have written it to the commissioner and the joint commissioner regarding this, let us see what happens.”BBMP officials said this was not a case of misuse. He said BJP leaders’ allegations were untrue.“The work on Indira canteen was taken up at the temple land as it was vacant and as the canteen was being constructed without any profit motive but to serve the poor and needy, the temple land would act as a perfect place,” he said. Banashankari temple ward corporator Ansar Pasha told Bangalore Mirror that this is not a religious issue. “As per the state government’s wish, the Indira canteen is coming up at all the 198 wards. We planned to construct the Indira canteen atcolony. But, we had to drop the proposal as the road was narrow. We were then told to explore the option at a land belonging to the Muzrai department. Indira canteen is a public serving canteen and hence no one should take exception to it.”Residents of Domlur were up-in-arms against the felling of a big tree for the construction of an Indira canteen.The tree in joggers’ park was felled on Friday afternoon to make way for the canteen building., a techie and a resident of the area, said, “I don’t understand the logic of felling a tree for the sake of a canteen. First of all, why should the canteen be constructed at a park which is a favourite place for joggers and secondly why should a tree be sacrificed? There is a lot of government land available nearby and hence the park should be spared.”Reacting to this, the local corporator C R Lakshmi Narayana said, “I did not know they were chopping off the tree. First of all Lakshmanappa, Assistant Engineer did not even speak to me before cutting this. But later on I came to know that the felled tree was sick and they are building Indira Canteen on that campus. However, they have neither spoken to me nor with the public.”