"Religious Sentiments": Indore Temple Allegedly Blocked Civic Body Action
Thirty-six people were killed when a structure at a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore collapsed yesterday. The stepwell roof at the Beleshwar Mahadev temple broke due to the sheer weight of the crowds on Ram Navami. A havan was being performed when the incident happened. An NDTV investigation has revealed the tragedy could have been averted had the Indore Municipal Corporation acted on complaints filed by residents. The tragedy hit many families hard, with some losing more than one member. Documents that NDTV accessed clearly show the temple area that collapsed was an illegal structure and the Indore Municipal Corporation had marked the cover of the stepwell for demolition last year. But the municipal body had to back down after the temple trust warned them religious sentiments would be hurt. NDTV has accessed one more letter issued by the then Indore Development Authority (IDA) chief in 1985 - a planning map of the area which has no mention of any temple. The map shows this ar...