Days after the Supreme Court of India stayed the demolition of Dargah Mubarak Khan Shaheed in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur city, Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh has ordered the removal of the name of religious structures built along the roads.
The decision on the demolition comes as the court was orally informed by the petitioner—Dargah Mubarak Khan Shaheed—that it had received a letter dated March 8 from the secretary of the Gorakhpur Development Authority (GDA) requesting the city’s superintendent of police to deploy a force and begin the demolition work from Tuesday, reported LiveLaw.
The state home department has directed the district magistrates and divisional commissioners to remove all the religious places that encroach upon the roads.
The structures which are built from 1 January 2011 and after that will be removed without delay, Those structures built before this date will be transferred to private land.
UP Additional Chief Secretary Home Avanish Awasthi gave these directions in his letter to all district chiefs.
The divisional commissioners and district magistrates have been asked to submit their report by 14 March, stating how many religious places have been removed after the order, There are thousands of illegal religious structures that have come up on roadsides over the years.
These structures gradually expand and become permanent, adding to further encroachment of land.