Govt drags its feet again in Bhiwandi police station issue
The Maharashtra government has yet again deferred the construction of a police station in the communally-charged powerloom town of Bhiwandi in Thane district, around 70 km from Mumbai.
By TNN |
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has yet again deferred the construction of a police station in the communally-charged powerloom town of Bhiwandi in Thane district, around 70 km from Mumbai.
In a move that may smack of minority appeasement, deputy chief minister RR Patil, who holds the home portfolio, told the State Minorities Commission that construction work would begin only after the holy month of Ramazan.
Interestingly, Thane police had scheduled the construction work from October 4, but Mr Patil has virtually postponed it to the first week of November, chairman of the Commission Mohammad Naseem Siddiqui told journalists.
Mr Siddiqui said that Commission had completed a probe into the ‘controversy’ surrounding ownership of the land and had conclusively established that the 2,600-sqft plot is owned by the government. “Yet, we have requested the government to postpone construction as a mark of respect to the feelings of Muslims during Ramazan,” Mr Siddiqui said.
Asked what objection the Commission or Muslims could have when the land was established to be owned by the government, Mr Siddiqui claimed that Muslims wanted to “support the construction in large number” which would be possible only after Ramazan.
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The issue of constructing a police station on the government land is being opposed by several Muslim organisations since the site is adjacent to a mosque. But when some organisations made a legal claim on the land, the court had ruled that the land is owned by the public works department.Equipped with the court order, Thane police had attempted to start construction work in July, but frenzied mob prevented them. Two police constables, who were in civilian clothes, were also allegedly killed by the mob.
The matter snowballed into a major controversy with the Shiv Sena-BJP combine accusing the Congress-NCP government of minority appeasement after the government, in particular Mr Patil, decided to postpone construction works and allowed a minority organisation to submit evidence within a fortnight to prove its claim on the land.
When the organisation failed to do so, the government did not immediately start construction, prompting the Opposition to accuse it of succumbing to minority fundamentalism.
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