Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Sep 18: Sources in the government said that so far, 6,395 unauthorised religious structures including mosques, temples and churches have been identified in the state out of which as at July, 2,989 were yet to be demolished.

When the Supreme Court passed the order, the state had 5,668 unauthorised religious buildings. In 2009, the Supreme Court had ordered the eviction of all the structures either by regularising them, demolishing them or shifting. During the last 12 years, 2,887 temples, mosques and churches have been removed. However, during the period after 2009, 1,242 irregular structures came up.

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As per records, Dakshina Kannada has the highest unauthorised religious buildings numbering 1,579. Ballari did not have a single unauthorised religious structure in 2009 but during the last 12 years 410 buildings have come up in public places. The officials say that the district administration there has cleared all of them. In Karwar, where 459 such buildings have been identified, no evictions have been undertaken. In Mysuru, 92 structures have been identified but only two temples have been demolished. In Chikkamagaluru district, none of the structures have been marked as illegal. In Kodagu only one such building has been identified. In Bengaluru, BBMP has begun a survey and is confident of preparing the list in a week. As of now, 456 such buildings have been identified in Bengaluru.