Row over Jain temple construction at Surat high-rise

The Jain families had, in last few days, erected a fabricated temple structure, to pray at an open space on the ground floor. Flat owners from the Hindu community had objected to this, the police added.

“Two days ago, they handed a memorandum to the SMC Athwa zone office head, mentioning that the structure is illegal,” an officer said. Following this, a team from SMC checked the approved plan of the building but found no provision for a Jain temple. “The residents were verbally told to remove the structure but as they objected, a notice on removing the structure was sent to them,” the officer said.

However, as no action was taken by the flat owners, a team from SMC’s Athwa Zone, alongwith police personnel, reached the building Wednesday evening and started removing the fabricated structure.

The police said a large number of members from the Jain community gathered on the spot and opposed the move. The Vesu police personnel managed to control the situation and allowed SMC officials to remove the structure.

The police said following this, the crowd again started agitating and raised slogans against SMC. “After the structure was removed, youths from the Jain community, who sat on a dharna, sent messages to their friends asking them to reach the spot,” said the officer. “The youths were requested to leave but they did not. Following this, the police resorted to a mild lathicharge on the crowd to remove them,” the officer added.