Tension sparked near the gate of Baroda Medical College on Sunday when the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) laid a fresh coat of bitumen on the road where once a dargah existed.
VMC had laid the road on Saturday midnight when some lawbreakers came and dug up the patch where the dargah was once present. In response to this, VMC later registered a complaint against unidentified men at Raopura police station for damaging public property.
The road was soon re-carpeted in the presence of cops by Sunday evening and the encroachment department also cleared remaining part of the road by seizing handcarts who had their businesses outside the medical college.
When the road was getting re-carpeted, several people from the Muslim community came to protest the laying of the road. They claimed that devotees still visited it to offer worships even though dargah was 200 years old. They even tried to cordon the part of the road by placing bricks but were stopped by police which later deployed PCR van at the spot.
The dargah is believed to be of Geban Saheed Baba which was built two centuries back during the rule of Gaekwads. But there’s still no clarity on whether who owns the land.
Upon a brief meeting held by senior police officials, they’ve asked protesters to submit all legal documents and evidence to the VMC.
The corporation is open to any representation made by people if any dargah existed there. Municipal Commissioner, Ajay Bhadoo has said there was no structure present one month back but people had started to erect one by placing flags and chaddars. The officials are trying to bring the evidence to dig deeper into the matter.
