Nashik: Trustees of Anandvalli Durgah warn NMC of agitation over encroachment notice

The road leading to Navashya Ganapati Temple is owned by Hazrat Pir Syed Ranze Shah Anandvalli Durgah and is given free of cost to the temple, claimed by the trustees of the Durgah. The trustees have presented a memorandum in this regard to Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner Dr Chandrakant Pulkundwar. It is stated in the memorandum that social and religious harmony is being cultivated by the step, and NMC should not spoil it by issuing an encroachment notice to the Durgah. The trustees have warned of agitation if the notice is not withdrawn.

The board of trustees, former corporators Syed Mushir and Sudhakar Badgujar, and others met the NMC commissioner in this regard.

Following a complaint of encroachment at Anandavalli Durgah last week, the encroachment department of the municipal corporation has issued a notice to the trustees of the Durgah and ordered them to submit a written explanation along with the necessary documents within seven days. In a memorandum, the trust said that the land of Hazrat Pir Syed Ranze Shah Anandvalli Trust belongs to the Waqf Board, and the owner of the land had given it through a gift deed in the year 1940.

The said site falls within gaothan where the municipal corporation has proposed a 24-metre road from the trusted site.

"However, as the land is privately owned, NMC will have to acquire the land. Therefore, NMC issued the notice illegally. It is not legal to issue a notice of encroachment until the land acquisition proposal of the said place is approved and the money is paid to the trust. Moreover, whatever construction is there in the Durgah is before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act was enacted. The shed in the Durgah mentioned in the notice has been taken away even though it is not necessary, and the said notice should be withdrawn immediately; otherwise, the citizens will take to the streets," the memorandum stated. Ansar Rafiq Patkari, Sohail Razzak, Syed Ayyub, Mushtaq Ansari, Mohammad Riyaz Mansuri, Sheikh Hasan, Altaf Patkari, and others have signed the memorandum.