Days After 36 Deaths On Ram Navami, Illegal Structure At Indore Temple Demolished

Indore's civic body's action came after the slab constructed on top of the stepwell at the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple collapsed and killed 36 people last week.

New Delhi: The Indore civic body in Madhya Pradesh on Monday (April 3, 2023) demolished an illegal structure at the temple where a stepwell had collapsed last week and claimed 36 lives. The local administration launched a drive to remove encroachments from the religious complex on Monday morning and moved the idols of deities to another shrine. The operation at the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple complex in the Patel Nagar area was carried out in the presence of heavy police security and barricades were placed on roads leading to the temple. The action was being taken to remove encroachments from about 10,000 square feet of land around the temple premises.

The crackdown came after the slab constructed on top of the 'bawdi' (stepwell) at the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple caved in and plunged several devotees into the water reservoir below during a Ram Navami programme on Thursday. 

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh: Indore municipality deploys bulldozer & demolishes illegal structure at Indore temple where 36 people died after the stepwell collapse there last week. pic.twitter.com/gpRJB6zWhN — ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) April 3, 2023

The tragedy was reportedly the worst in Indore's history. 

Personnel of the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were involved in the search and rescue operation. 

The temple had been constructed after covering the square-shaped stepwell about four decades ago. 

Earlier last week, an FIR was registered against two members of the trust of the Indore temple.

An FIR was registered against Sevaram Galani, the president of Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple Trust, and its secretary Murli Kumar Sabnani under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

There are allegations against these two office bearers that they built a very unsafe structure by putting a slab on the stepwell, due to which 36 people lost their lives in Thursday's incident, police said.

"The Indore Municipal Corporation had ordered the trust to remove the illegal construction in the temple complex, but the trust did not comply with the order. Both the accused have not been arrested as yet," a senior police official said.

An Indore Municipal Corporation official said the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple Trust, in reply to the civic body's letter (on encroachment), had submitted a written reply in April last year claiming it would renovate the temple and open the stepwell by removing the construction (floor slab) on it.

However, the temple trust did not carry out the works it mentioned in its letter, the IMC official added.

Meanwhile, Indore Mayor said that he had ordered the suspension of a building officer and a building inspector of the civic body in connection with the incident.

The civic body will free all such waterbodies from encroachments and unsafe construction to prevent such tragedies, the Mayor added.