Karnataka - Bellary   

Tight security in Hampi

Staff Correspondent

Committee opposes holding of Vannurvali Urs near a temple

BELLARY: Save Hampi Action Committee has announced that a "special puja" would be held at the Eeranna temple in Hampi on Monday when Vannurvali urs would be organised.

In view of this, the police have tightened security at the site. A large number of people are expected to converge in Hampi to participate in the urs.

Since last year, the committee had been opposing urs being held in Hampi. Besides alleging large-scale encroachment of land in the name of religion, the committee had said that the sanctity of Hampi was being destroyed with the cooking and consumption of meat during the urs.

The committee, headed by Achyutdevaraya, and Chidanand Murthy, scholar, had alleged that the Vannurvali dargah had come up on an encroached land behind the Vijaya Vittala temple complex on the banks of the Tungabhadra.

A group of pro-Hindu activists staged "rasta roko" at Mariyammanahalli urging the authorities not to allow the urs to be held.

Meanwhile, Home Minister M.P. Prakash has said that steps would be taken to prevent it from becoming a communal issue.

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Tight security in Hampi

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