Panchmandir temple on a plot belonging to Bihar State Housing Board. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, July 3: Religious shrines, set up on plots belonging to the Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB), have left at least eight landowners in the lurch.

The Panchmandir temple and Sai temple at Lohianagar, Kankerbagh, are built on plots allotted to the eight owners in 1969.

“I was allotted a plot measuring around 500 square feet within the said premises in 1969 by BSHB after payment of the compensation amount. The terms of usage was prescribed as commercial-cum-residential. After receipt of registered allotment letter on December 10, 1969, I also received the agreement documents from the department on January 1, 1971. Later, after the re-establishment of the housing department as BSHB in 1972, a letter was issued by the board to us on November 26, 1974 stating that the said plots were allotted by the erstwhile department and the physical possession of the plots are to be given to the allottees. However, none of the allottees have received the possession till date,” said Meena Sinha, allottee of plot number A-3 at Lohianagar.

According to the claims of the allottees, the temples are constructed on eights plots of housing board at Lohianagar — A3, B3, A-11, B-8, B-4, A-9, B-9 and A-4. “Despite of our continuous pursuance since the encroachment started, we have not received any positive response from the housing board. The board had issued a public notification on June 31, 2006, asking the eight allottees to claim their allotment. That process has also gone in vain as no progress has happened till date,” said Arun Kapoor, allottee of plot number B-3 at Lohianagar. The housing board meanwhile confirmed that the temple is constructed on its property.

“The said plots are earmarked as property of housing board and the encroachment has increased gradually over a long period of time and has now taken the form of big temples. Moreover, other forms of encroachment have also come up around the temples,” said a housing board official on condition of anonymity.

According to sources the alleged encroachment started in 1973 with the construction of a small temple. Expansion of the structure started in 1983 and by 1987-88, construction of first part of the temple was complete.

Later, another temple was built close to the first temple and at present, both the temples are visited by hundreds of devotes everyday.

Acharya Kunal Kishore, chairman, Bihar religious trust board, said he is aware of the dispute. “Departmental sources have informed me that the eight allottees have been given plots behind the temple premises,” he said.

While four of the allottees have agreed to take possession of land behind the temples, the other four are still objecting to the new proposal, claiming they were initially given prime location and now are being made to accept ordinary plots. The allotment of plots to the other four has also not begun yet, said sources.