Dharavi tense as locals stop BMC from razing portion of mosque

Tension prevailed in Mumbai's Dharavi on Saturday morning after hundreds of residents blocked a road to oppose the Mumbai civic body's plan to demolish an alleged illegal portion of a mosque, an official said.

Some residents stopped civic officials from entering the lane where the mosque is located and soon hundreds of people assembled outside the Dharavi police station and squatted on the road.

As the situation became tense, trustees of the mosque held talks with officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). They sought four to five days to remove the encroached portion, which was agreed upon by authorities.

Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident, a police official said.

"A team of BMC officials from G-North administrative ward reached the 90 Feet Road around 9 am to demolish the alleged illegal portion of Mehboob-E-Subhani masjid. Soon, residents gathered at the spot and stopped the civic officials from entering the lane where the mosque is located," he said.

"Later, hundreds of people also assembled outside the Dharavi police station and squatted on the road to protest against the civic body's move," he said.

A civic official said the BMC's G north ward had issued a notice to remove the encroached portion of the mosque and said the action would be taken according to this notice.

Later, people assembled outside the Dharavi police station protested against the notice and stopped officials from carrying out the demolition, he said.

In a joint meeting with the civic officials and Dharavi police, trustees of the mosque asked the BMC to give them four to five days to remove the illegal part of the structure, the official said.

He said the trustees submitted a written request to the BMC's deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner of the G north division stating that they would remove the construction on their own during this period.

The civic body has accepted the request, the official said.

Dharavi, a densely-populated colony, is considered the largest slum sprawl in the country.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray accused the Eknath Shinde-led government of trying to create a communal discord as a "last ditch" attempt before upcoming assembly elections.

"The masjid issue in Dharavi is the last attempt by the BJP and Shinde government to create discord between Hindus and Muslims. People of Dharavi had stood against the redevelopment project," he said.

The BJP and its NDA allies are attempting to stoke communal and caste flare-ups, he alleged.

"On the one hand, they will say Hindus are being attacked in Bangladesh, and on the other hand they will play cricket (with the Bangladesh team)," he told reporters.

Responding to the Tirupati temple laddoo issue, Thackeray demanded that the prasad laddoos be tested in an international lab and not in Gujarat.

"This is a very sensitive matter. Jagan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu who are criticising each other on the matter have been allies of BJP. The BJP should respond," he said.