Gujarat officials carry out demolition drive at religious site, left shocked to find...

Officials in Gujarat were carrying out a demolition drive on Saturday when they came across something quite unusual. Upon reaching a religious site built illegally in Jamnagar's Bachu Nagar Extension area, they found a flurry of luxuries, including a swimming pool as well as a bathtub besides large rooms. The Bachu Nagar Extension area has come under the radar of the Jamnagar civic authorities over the illegal construction of close to 300 houses and several religious sites. Read on for more details.

Houses built decades ago
The occupants of the houses had built them some 20 to 25 years ago, and have since been residing there. Some of the houses were built at a major environmental cost by blocking the flow of the Rangmati river, NDTV reported citing sources. Due to this, rainwater often accumulated in residential areas, leading to flood-like conditions. The municipal authority began the demolition work on Saturday, and plans to bring down all illegal structures.

'Police were shocked'
The religious sites covered an area over 11,000 square feet. "The police were shocked to find luxurious facilities inside a shrine," the publication quoted a source as saying. The price of the land where the demolition took place on Saturday is around Rs 200 crore.
Around 100 people were engaged in the massive demolition drive, and used a dozen JCB machines, three Hitachi machines, and 13 tractors for the exercise.

300 structures brought down
The Superintendent of Police (SP), Premsukh Delu, said that 300 illegal structures were razed on Saturday.
"There was illegal encroachment near the Rangmati River. Due to this illegal encroachment, flood-like conditions arise in Jamnagar during the rainy season...An area of ​​​​about eight lakh square feet has been cleared. Several criminals had built their houses and farmhouses there. All of them have now been removed," he said.