Rule Of Law: Yogi Adityanath Government Acts On NGT Order, Illegal Islamic Structures Near Govardhan Parvat Removed

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, acting on a report by National Green Tribunal, has removed seven ‘mazars’ or Islamic shrines that had encroached space around Govardhan Parvat in Mathura, as reported by MyNation.

The tribunal had passed an order in 2015 to remove all encroachments and illegal constructions in the area, also adding that those which “blocked/obstructed the darshan by the devotees” be demolished. The order followed an inspection taken by the environmental body in response to complaints from several devotees, on March 20, 2015.

The NGT report advised making the entire parikrama marg as ‘no-construction zone’. “A drive may be carried out for the identification of forest land in accordance with demarcation map and all encroachments may be removed in a time-bound manner,” the report stated.

Also called as Giriraj, the hillock is a holy pilgrimage site in Hinduism. The legend goes that Lord Krishna used the hillock to shield the people of Braj from ferocious rainstorm, a manifestation of the anger of the God of Thunder, Indra. Hindus flock from across the country to do ‘parikrama’ or circumambulation of the hill.

Amit Tiwari, an advocate related to the case, says that the seven mazars illegally situated near the parikrama marg were not there in the original list and had been identified during a recent inspection.