Row in Agra as railways issues notice to shift decades-old temple
India Today
Local residents and Hindu organisations have opposed the notice issued by Indian Railways to shift a decades-old temple from the station premises.
Indian Railways issued a notice to shift decades-old Chamunda Devi temple from the premises of Raja Mandi railway station in Uttar Pradesh's Agra, kicking up a storm with Hindu activists threatening to commit mass suicide if authorities proceed with the order.
Railway authorities require land for the expansion of the station and issued a notice to shift the decades-old Devi temple elsewhere from the station. The priests and devotees of the temple are agitated.
Meanwhile, the railway officials have clearly said that if this issue is not resolved soon, then the Indian Railways will close the station itself, where more than two dozen trains pass through every day.
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On the other hand, devotees and local citizens who visit the temple claim that the Devi temple was not built by encroaching on the land of the railways, and the station itself was constructed decades after the temple was built.
According to the information accessed by India Today, in 1956, the administration had acquired 2.71 acres of land for the new Raja Mandi railway station, but in this acquired land, rights over the Devi temple land were not included. Although the then revenue minister had proposed to build a grand temple for the people in another place, the local residents unanimously rejected this proposal.
A senior citizen told India Today that on April 18, 1954, a meeting was held between the regional public and the then revenue minister in the presence of the District Magistrate and City Magistrate of Agra in this regard, in which the Devi Mandir (Raja Mandi Temple) was to be shifted away from the railway station.
