Bengaluru: Muslim prayer centre at Railway Station restored as porters' retiring room after protest
Bengaluru, Feb 2: The retiring room for porters which was converted by some into a Muslim prayer centre at the Bengaluru city Railway Station has been restored to its previous state, Railway authorities said.
The issue had snowballed into a controversy after a viral video in social media claimed there was a 'mosque' inside the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Bengaluru City Railway Station.
"The porters unilaterally decided to restore the porter retiring room into its previous form as they did not want to give any communal twist to the entire episode," a senior Railway official of the South Western Railway said.
The video purportedly showed the prayer hall painted in green and Muslims offering prayer there.
A Hindu right wing organisation staged a demonstration at the Railway Station on Monday demanding restoration of the porter retiring room into its previous form.
They also questioned how the room was allowed to be converted into a 'Mosque' and warned the officials that they will raise the matter with the Railway ministry authorities.
Following the demonstration, the entire room was brought back to its previous form and the porters started taking rest there as done earlier.
The SWR official said the porters themselves agreed not to disrupt peace and cordiality amongst themselves.
"The prayer hall was an internal arrangement of the porters and no one had any issue. Now again for the sake of peace and harmony they unilaterally restored the retiring room. We didn't have any role in its restoration, the official claimed.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
