Title - Religious shrines may pose major obstacles in Lucknow's metro route

LUCKNOW: It will be a difficult challenge before the metro cell to remove famous religious places falling within 30 metres on each side of the central metro rail line. There are about 89 such shrines including temples, mosques, gurdwaras and mazaars whose major premises fall within the metro area and need to be removed. The metro cell is busy framing strategy to relocate these shrines falling along the metro route, along with their plans to construct the north-south (N-S) corridor. Officials said that nothing can be worked out till the time a detailed map from metro authorities describing the location of its pillars and upcoming stations is ready. The cell is thinking on the lines of adopting the Bangalore metro model where along with setting up new shrines in place of older ones, the cell also gave some extra benefits to the trust running those impacted shrines. The DPR requires about 30 metre land on each side of the central metro line to construct its track, stations and pillars. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had done an extensive survey before preparing the DPR and suggested that in the N-S corridor from Amausi airport to Munshipulia, around 61 religious spots were detected. These are located on both sides of the track. Out of the 61 shrines, 41 are small temples which are mostly located on roadsides. Besides, many prominent temples also feature in the planned route and it will be a difficult task to remove them as it might hurt the religious sentiments of many people. These big institutions are only 10-12 metres away from the main line. There is no option other than shifting them to other places. Apart from 41 temples, the route includes 11 mosques, one gurdwara, one satsang bhawan and six preserved memorials. Officials are under high pressure to think about alternative options. The 'Bodh Vihar Shanti Upvan' set up by Mayawati's government also falls within the 30-metre range of the metro route. Though a small part of it would be covered in the metro area, but the problem has been giving sleepless nights to officials. Similarly, about 28 religious places fall in the east-west corridor, the next phase of the metro plan. Metro officials are taking special care to ensure that the least number of shrines are relocated and have asked DMRC people to make a plan that ensures that many religious places do not come under the metro area. They have also clarified that shrines which are removed will be relocated to another location.