Plan to relocate mosque for National Highway widening dropped

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Owing to the  pressure from political parties and religious organisations, the district administration has  backed out from the proposed relocation of the mosque at Pappanamcode to facilitate the ongoing Karamana – Kaliyikkavila NH widening project. A  decision to refer the file to the government was taken after a meeting held with various stakeholders failed to reach a consensus.

On Thursday, the Hindu Aikya Vedi activists took out a march to collector Biju Prabhakar’s residence to  protest against the  demolition of Hindu religious structures as part of several development initiatives undertaken by the district administration.

Mr Prabhakar, in a release issued here,  said that the district administration had  failed to find suitable land for relocating the mosque despite repeated efforts.  He said that the district administration was  referring the file to the state government.

Several sites were identified in the nearby areas for relocating the structure but none of the plans worked out. The effort to relocate the mosque to the land owned by the BSNL was derailed by the employee unions, BJP and Hindu Aikya Vedi.

Action council convenor Kaimanam Chandran, who was part of the agitation, said that the district administration was showing partiality. “All the Hindu religious structures were removed without even a short notice and when it comes to a mosque they are giving a lot of time. This is totally unfair,” said Mr Chandran.

He said that the district administration had  destroyed a lot of Hindu religious properties in the name of Operation Anantha. “They are using such drives as a camouflage to hurt our religious sentiments. They have dug a huge drainage in front of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple affecting the sanctity of the place,” said Mr Chandran.