Mysuru: Dome-like structures removed from bus stop after BJP MP claimed design resembled a mosque

Civic authorities in Mysuru on Saturday removed two domes from a bus stop, twelve days after a local Bharatiya Janata Party MP claimed that the structures looked like a mosque, The Indian Express reported.

The domes were located on the Nanjangud/Ooty National Highway bus stop. The earlier design had three domes that were painted golden. Now, only the central dome has been retained and painted red.

On November 14, BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency Pratap Simha had told authorities to demolish the structures within three days, failing which he would bring them down himself with a bulldozer.

However, BJP MLA SA Ramadass had claimed that the domes were modelled on the Mysuru Palace and were designed to conserve the city’s heritage. Ramadass is the MLA from the Krishnaraja Assembly constituency, within which the bus stop is located.

On Sunday, Simha thanked Ramadass for getting the dome-like structures removed, The Times of India reported. “If there is a big dome in the middle and two smaller domes next to each other, it is a mosque,” he said. “Thanks to the DC [Deputy Commissioner] who asked for time and kept his word and to Ramdas ji who understood the reality and bowed to the public opinion.”

Meanwhile, Ramadass said that unnecessary communalisation of the matter had hurt him, according to The Indian Express.

On November 15, the National Highways Authority of India had directed the Mysuru City Corporation to demolish the dome-like structures, claiming that they had been constructed in an unauthorised manner.

The authority had mentioned “unauthorised occupation” as reason for the demolition order, but had not provided details about any sort of encroachment. Instead, the notice claimed that the structures had been constructed to achieve “controversial kind of issues”, and that they had led to “communal issues”.