New Delhi: A delegation led by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Sunil Deodhar visited various places including Raigarh and Colaba in Maharashtra on Tuesday. Complained to the Center on the issue of construction works being carried out in the forts “with the intention of reviving religious structures”.
Rajya Sabha member Sahasrabuddhe, BJP national secretary Deodhar and Delhi Marathi Pratishthan’s Vaibhav Dange met Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal in this regard. Sahasrabuddhe said that similar illegal constructions have come to the fore in Vishalgarh in Kolhapur also. He urged Meghwal to constitute a high level committee of elected representatives and government officials in view of this “grave situation”.
In a tweet, he said, “Meeted Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Culture along with Sunil Deodhar and Vaibhav Dange and memorandum to stop illegal construction work being done by some religious groups in many historical forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s era. handed over.” The delegation, in a memorandum submitted to Meghwal, said that this matter was brought to the notice in the past and recently there have been fresh incidents of illegal construction and reconstruction of religious worship structures.
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The memorandum said that it appears that this attempt is being made by some “anti-social elements” to revive the religious rituals by painting the old structures white. BJP leaders said that these forts of Maharashtra have been declared as monuments of national importance and the responsibility of their conservation rests with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
He said that the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took place in the fort of Raigad, while the fort of Colaba was the naval base of his Maratha Empire. He asked Meghwal to instruct the ASI so that no construction or reconstruction work can take place inside any protected monument with the intention of reviving religious rituals.
Sahasrabuddhe said incidents of illegal construction were witnessed by groups of mountaineers and youth in Raigad and Colaba. He claimed that “anti-social elements” have given the name of “Dargah Chandan” to Chandgarh Fort in Maharashtra’s Satara district and they are preparing to carry out construction work there for religious rituals. “Similarly, local people have started celebrating Urs on a large scale in the famous Lohagarh Fort, which was the temple of the local deity Bhairoba,” he said.