A mega demolition drive, currently underway in Dahod town to make way for Smart City Project, continued Monday with authorities razing the structures from Bhagini Samaj Line to Nagina Masjid and the Anjuman Hospital area. Among the structures that were razed was a part of the Nagina Masjid of Dahod on SV road, even as the administration is verifying the records of the masjid for the future course of action. Emotions ran high across Dahod town as the demolition drive initiated by Smart City Project committee on May 11 continued on Day four after a pause Sunday. The Dahod Prant Officer, who is overseeing the Smart city project implementation, has so far carried out demolitions on Godhra Road, Godi Road, Palika Road, Station Road and also the Padav area of the town. While an old temple dedicated to Lord Ganesh was demolished earlier last week, a part of the Nagina Masjid was brought down on Monday after the locals began dismantling a six-feet portion of the structure on receiving the notice of the authorities. Most of the areas under the demolition drive are dominated by the majority community while the areas of Chhab Talav and those around Nagina masjid are dominated by the minorities. A Dawoodi Vohra Musafirkhana located on the Station Road has also been razed in the demolition drive. The Masjid management has been granted time to submit documents to prove their ownership of the land in order for the authorities to decide the future course of action. "The demolitions are part of the Smart City project. We have razed a part of the Masjid that was falling in the line of the demarcation and the Masjid administrators willingly had it removed. For the rest of the structure, which is under question, we have given them time as the documents are being verified," said Dahod Collector Harshit Gosavi. The demolitions for road widening under the Smart City Project, for which a notice was served to the property owners on May 7, had granted five days to vacate the premises. On Thursday, as the demolition team arrived, led by Prant Officer and with heavy police deployment, residents and traders requested to be granted more time. Dahod Municipality President Reena Panchal of the BJP, who is also a member of the committee, also requested the authorities to grant time to the residents but the demolitions were carried out at the scheduled time. "A five-day notice was issued to the residents for the first time. There had been discussions and talks about the demolition but we thought it would have been right to give them some more time. People are willing to cooperate but they wanted to remove their belongings from the properties. As a representative of the people, I tried to communicate this to the officer in-charge but they carried out the demolition instantly. Some people may have not been able to remove their belongings," Panchal told The Indian Express. Panchal said the committee had decided to also sit down with the communities managing any religious place of worship that came in the line of the road widening. "Accordingly, we took into confidence the locals for the Ganesh temple that was razed on the Palika road as well as the Masjid for the removal of the encroachment. Currently, the officials have undertaken the widening of 10 major roads in Dahod town but we are not yet aware of the scale of the demolition in terms of the actual number of properties that have been razed."
