ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Sunday said before starting construction work, the temple management was required to get the site formally demarcated by the civic agency.

Additionally, approval of the building plan is mandatory before construction work begins, it added.

“We allotted the plot in H-9 for the establishment of the temple some years ago. But adherence to the CDA bylaws is mandatory for the allottees,” an official of the civic agency said.

Whenever the management of the temple will apply it will be given approval on priority, he said.

The CDA on Friday stopped the temple management from building a boundary wall at the site.

“We abide by the rules but construction of a boundary wall was necessary as some people backed by a few seminary students had set up tents on the plot in 2018 and it took us several months to get it cleared,” PTI MNA Lal Chand Malhi told Dawn.

In 2016, the CDA board, then headed by Mayor Anser Aziz, allotted four kanals to the Hindu community for the temple.

The CDA board made the allotment on the direction of Human Right Commission of Pakistan.

Currently, there is no temple for the Hindu community in Islamabad. In the past, there was a temple in Saidpur village but has been abandoned for decades.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2020