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The Bangladesh Railway authorities on Thursday demolished a makeshift Durga temple constructed on its land in the capital’s Khilkhet area.

The temple was demolished three days after a mob took position there demanding the removal of the temple.


The Bangladesh Railway authorities said that they demolished the temple named Khilkhet Sarbojanin Shri Shri Durga Mandir as it was built illegally on the land of the railway.

Different minority organisations on Thursday condemned the incident alleging that the authorities demolished the temple without providing prior notice to the community people.

The temple committee members alleged that a mob of over 500 people, armed with sticks, took position in the temple while the worshippers were staying in the temple at about 9:00pm on Monday.

They alleged that the railway authorities only demolished the temple while the other establishments were untouched.

The committee secretary Arjun Roy told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they took permission from the railway authorities to celebrate Durga puja there in the past year and to use the place for their worshipping temporarily.

‘But the authorities demolished everything today without giving us a prior notice. We are very disheartened over the incident,’ he added.

Bangladesh Railway’s Dhaka divisional estate officer Md Nasir Uddin Mahmud told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the demolition of the temple and other illegal establishments started at about 10:00am.

‘A number of establishments in the area were illegally built on the railway’s land. We came to know about the makeshift temple on Monday,’ he said.

The temple’s committee did not take any permission from the authorities, Nasir added.

The Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, the Mahanagor Sarbojanin Puja Committee, and the Minority Rights Movement on Thursday in separate statements condemned the mob incident and the demolition.