The owner of a building in Varanasi’s Dalmandi set his property on fire on Monday afternoon when a district administrative team tried to tear it down along with 20 other structures that were served demolition notices 15 days ago.

As the blaze engulfed his ground-floor shop, the unidentified man was seen standing on the terrace with a canister of petrol and shouting: “The administration is illegally demolishing our houses to widen the road.”

The man fled the spot after an hour-long commotion, but the police arrested over 20 residents of the locality who were protesting the demolition drive.

The Varanasi district administration has identified 187 buildings in the congested Dalmandi area and razed around 29 of them in the last month to execute Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project of widening the roads around Kashi Vishwanath temple. Modi represents the Varanasi constituency in the Lok Sabha.

The administration had served fresh notices to the owners of 21 buildings in the second phase, directing them to demolish their properties by Monday.

Resident Rajiv Shukla said the government was declaring houses in good condition as unsafe.

“The government tags the houses as decrepit and unsafe and directs owners to bring them down before they collapse and cause injury or death. However, most of these houses are in good condition. If we demolish our houses, the authorities will not permit us to build another house here. Ultimately, they will confiscate our land, give us compensation and build a 17.50-metre road here,” Shukla said.