Mumbai: Tension prevailed in Dharavi slum here on Saturday morning after hundreds of residents gathered on a road to oppose the civic authorities's plan to demolish an alleged illegal portion of a mosque, an official said.
By afternoon, trustees of the mosque held talks with officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and sought four to five days to remove the encroached portion, and the authorities accepted their request. Several 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 a deadline of 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 Asia's largest slum.
