Pandeshwara Mahalingeshwara Temple compound wall collapse:

Builders asked to compensate all losses

04.05.10 Mangalore : Hundreds of devotees attending a festival at the Pandeshwara Temple miraculously escaped unhurt, when the backside compound wall of the  temple suddenly collapsed on Monday midnight, almost at the time of annual car festival peak hours when milling crowds had thronged  the ancient place of worship containing rock stone edicts.

The blame for this wall collapse has been squarely laid at the doors of Fiza developers, a building company that had encroached upon temple space and also had dug up neighboring area upto 400 feet depth for pile foundation work close to the temple’s back wall. The builders were constructing a tall building comprising of a market complex and residential apartments. They did not take precautionary steps while digging upto 400 feet just next to the temple precincts. Obviously, the wall could not be supported, and went down the huge hole. In view of the religious rites, 50 chairs had been laid out near the wall that collapsed and they disappeared. A compressor machine, tables, benches and some vessels that had been kept near the wall also went under the holes developed by the careless builders. Cracks appeared due to land pressures on the surrounding walls and sitting areas of the temple. The wall of a Vishnumoorthy temple nearby also felt the impact of the wall collapse and got damaged, witnesses informed.

The Fiza developers were working on a 5.5 acres of land for the new commercial cum-residential tower, through Prestige Builders, employing Mfar Engineers on technical matters, during the last two years, 2008-10. The building work had gobbled up 48cents of Mahalingeshwara temple land, for which temple administrators had taken the matter to a court of law for redressal. When a large pileup hole is created so close to the temple walls, the engineers and builders should have considered the consequences of total damage and damages in law. The rainy season could create worst situation in a month hence to the site. Such dangerous construction activity of the builders on the neighboring land had put common people visiting the temple, the devotees, the priests and the administrators to hardships and a continuous headache due to air pollution too.

On being informed of the accident during annual festival celebration, DKDC, V. Ponnuraj, visited the area quickly and warned the builders of legal consequences. He ordered cancellation of the builders’ licence. He asked the NITK engineers to construct a defence wall at 45 degree inclination in 20 days, so as to avert further accidents and wall collapse. The builders were asked to compensate all the losses incurred by the temple authorities and a nearby Audio Video Centre on Monday night. The Builders are learning their lessons now the hard way.

MCC Commissioner Vijay Prakash examined the blue print of the building under construction. Mayor Rajani Dugganna, Deputy Mayor. Rajendra Kumar, Corporators D. Diwakar, Sudhir Shetty, TV crews, Temple administrators and Citizens Welfare Committee member Hanumant Kamath and other dignitaries visited the Temple and surveyed the wall collapse redemption work.