DDA notifies change in land use of plot in city forest for Ravidas temple construction

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has notified the change in land use of a plot in Jahanpanah City forest in South Delhi’s Tughlaqabad to facilitate the building of Sant Ravidas temple . The land will now be handed over to the devotees of Guru Ravidas for temple construction.

As per the Gazette notification, the land use of a 400 square metre plot has been changed from “recreational” to ”public and semi-public”. The change is land use was approved by the DDA in September in a meeting chaired by Delhi’s lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal, who is also chairman of DDA.

The DDA officials said after all the necessary approval, the land use has been changed in the Master Plan of Delhi-2021.

In August last year, the DDA had demolished the temple, located at the city forest, in pursuance of a Supreme Court order. This had led to larges-cale protest by the devotees of Guru Ravidas in Delhi and several parts of north India. In November 2019, the Supreme Court had allowed construction of the temple at the same location.

A DDA official said the process to allot the land to devotees will be initiated once they register themselves as a society or committee. “According to rules, the land can only be allotted to a committee and there is no committee as such registered at present,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.

MR Balli, general secretary of the 11-member committee that was constituted following the Supreme Court order, said the devotees are in the process of registering themselves as a society under the Societies Act. “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a delay in getting the society registered as our members are spread across the country. But we will very soon get it done, as we want the temple to be rebuilt at the earliest,” he said.

He further said, “DDA officials had told us that they have initiated the process to change the land use. But we are not aware of the notification being issued.”