Policy to prevent construction of unauthorised religious structure

In conformity with the Supreme Court order to formulate policy to deal with constructions on religious sites, the Orissa government has framed a policy to deal with un-authorised construction of religious structures such as temple, church, mosque, gurudwar on public streets in the state. The policy seeks to discourage and dissuade individuals from undertaking un-authorised construction of religious structures and will deal with such constructions, which took place prior to 29th September 2009, on a case to case basis.

“The state government has already framed a policy to deal with un-authorised construction of religious structures. The collectors have been asked to take action on the policy at their end”, R K Sharma, secretary, revenue and disaster management department said.

Sources said, no un-authorised construction of religious structure will henceforth be allowed in public roads, parks and other public places. The collectors will take up survey of the existing religious structures as on 29th September 2009, taking the help of the departments and local bodies concerned. The survey would indicate details like classification of the land and the building, nature of land, description of religious structure, ownership/management and year of construction among other things and would be completed within 6 months.

A committee comprising of the collector, SP, district level officials of various departments and the chief executive of the urban local bodies (ULBs) would examine the cases of un-authorised construction keeping in view the public convenience like free flow of traffic and nature of land. It would decide whether a structure will be allowed to continue or needs to be evicted, basing upon the policy of the government.