Post-HC stricture, district administration counts 80 religious structures, 12 approved

Of the religious structures counted, two are in Bhor, four in Indapur, four in Junnar, 11 in Shirur and 59 in Haveli. The officials said they have another week to get the final list ready for submission before the HC. The HC had issued the order on a PIL filed by activist Bhavvanji Raiyani in 2009 against illegal shrines on public land.

A GR classified religious structures that had come up after 2009 as A and B. Category A was for famous religious structures that did not interfere with the city’s development plan (DP). Category B was for relatively newer ones those did not interfere with the DP. Some of them have been regularised with permission of authorities concerned. An affidavit filed by the state gave a figure of 17.000 such structures of which 600 were demolished as of 2011. The court observed that despite issuing the GR, action has been taken against only 10 per cent of such structures.