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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, April 19: The constant whirring of generators, loud music, a cavalcade of cars parked every which way and regular fights — life for the residents of S-block in Greater Kailash II is anything but peaceful. And all because they live next to a temple.
For the residents, the Sanatan Dharam Sabha Mandir in their block has become the bane of their life, as the temple has gradually been transformed into a commercial complex. Apart from being a place of worship, the mandir has a banquet hall and a guest house. It also claims to offer the best conference facilities’ in south Delhi.
“We have sought help from almost everyone in the city, but so far nothing has happened. We approached the Lt. Governor and Kiran Bedi even instructed all the concerned officials to take immediate action as the entire commercial complex is unauthorised. However, all we get is regular threats from these people whenever we ask them to behave,” says an aggrieved resident.
Another one says: “The worst time of the year for us is the marriage season, especially those days when they hold two or three marriages in the same day. Loud bands, people dancing and drinking outside our houses, eve-teasing, it has become more than a public nuisance. Our security guards are regularly beaten-up and we have had to change the security agency thrice already. We have no control over the people coming in and we have had frequent instances of theft locality.”
Kiran Bedi had, in fact, in a series of meetings instructed officials of the Delhi Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Vidyut Board and the police to look into their grievance.
However, residents point out, “The police was instructed to confiscate their equipment whenever they used mikes, crane should be stationed to ensure that heavy vehicles do not obstruct their way and that the police should be intimated before they hold any function in the temple premises. But still life goes on much the same as usual. All that the police does is to stand here as mute spectators, even as they go on with their business as usual. One presumes that all agencies are in cahoots as they have a huge turnover.”
Agreeing that this was a nuisance, Chittaranjan Park SHO Madhu Sudan Rao says: “There are a lot of agencies involved and so it is taking a lot of time in solving this problem. We had written to the MCD informing them about the unauthorised construction of the banquet hall several months ago, similarly DVB and the DPCB officials were also informed, but so far they have done nothing.”
Rao further states: “Our hands are tied and we can’t really do anything except post our men whenever we know that they are organising something in the premises. However, since they rarely bother to inform us, we have to rely on our own information or if the residents calls.”
