September 18, 2012: A parish in Mumbai is opposing a move by the municipal corporation
to take over its land in the name of road widening. The Bombay Municipal Corporation
(BMC) recently served a notice to the St Anthony's Church in Malwani, Malad (W), to
hand over its “open plot” for widening a road that passes through the area.
The
church built in 1872 is caters to some 14,000 parishioners and was listed in the recently
proposed heritage list. Parish priest Father Austen Norris has written to the BMC
that its September 1 notice stands null and void as the church figures in the corporation’s
own heritage list.
The land demanded by the corporation has a grotto, a compound
wall and the residence for priests. The notice to the church has upset Christians
in the area.
Fr. Norris expressed anguish over the demand and said the church
uses the so-called open land to conduct Mass and other church services on bigger occasions.
"We appeal to the ward office to give us justice," the priest told The Times of India.
R.
Fernandes, a parishioner and a lawyer, cited a government police that bars demolition
of any structure in a property declared as heritage. If the corporation doesn't agree,
“we will have to take legal course of action," he added.
Anil Joseph, who was
part of the 2006 protest against the corporation’s acquisition notices for churches,
said urged the civic body not to hurt “the religious sentiments of the people and
give respect to their own heritage tag."
D. Jain, an official of the corporation,
said the church had agreed in 1980 to hand over land for read widening. “It's an open
space that has been extended. My engineers have told me that the part of land doesn't
fall under the purview of heritage norms," he added.
In a similar incident
in 2006, the corporation sent notices to St. Peter's Church, St Andrew's Church and
Parsi Agiary in Bandra. The churches would have lost family graves, grotto and the
Holy Cross, which were in existence for hundreds of years. Bandra residents formed
a human chain around the agiary when the demolition squad arrived. After political
intervention, the BMC realigned the road.