Hyderabad: The demolition of a church at Moosarambagh on Thursday led to angry protests by members of the Telangana Christian Council and residents, who claimed that the act was done without serving any prior notice.

"The church had been functioning for two decades and there was no reason to demolish it as it did not cause any hindrance to anybody and everything related to the church was perfect," said K Ermiah, pastor of the church.

Members of Telangana Christian Council now demand that the demolished church be rebuilt in the same place as soon as possible. They had planned to stage a dharna against the government and GHMC on Friday, but it did not happen.

Defending the demolition, officials of the civic body said that the demolition of this particular church was not sudden and it was on the cards for the last two years.

"The church had encroached a 40-feet road. We had received a complaint from residents living behind the church, saying they were unable to use the access road to reach their homes," said Purushottam Rao, assistant city planner, circle 4.

He added that in 2014, the then standing committee had approved its demolition, which was revisited once again in June last year.

"This church is not used by many people and there are only 10 to 15 worshippers who congregate there to pray on Sunday. It remains locked the rest of the week," he said.



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