Amid the illegal construction of a mosque on the land of the century-old Kantajew Temple or Kantaji Temple in Kaharol upazila (sub-district) under Dinazpur district in Bangladesh, on Sunday the district administration banned all kinds of construction work on the land of the temple – more than 23 days after local Muslims started illegally constructing a multi-storey mosque by forcefully occupying temple land.
Notably, centuries ago total 156.53 acres of land was registered in the name of Maharaja Jagdish Nath Roy who represented Sri Sri Kantaji Vigraha and since then the historic Kantaji Temple has turned into a pilgrimage site for hundreds and thousands of Hindus from Bangladesh and abroad.
Kantanagar Temple, commonly known as Kantaji Temple or Kantajew Temple at Kantanagar, is a Hindu temple. It belongs to the 18th century and the temple belongs to the Hindu Kanta or Krishna. It was built by Maharaja Pran Nath, its construction started in 1704 CE and ended in the reign of his son Raja Ramnath in 1722 CE.
It is an example of terracotta architecture in Bangladesh. It not only globally represents Bangladesh but also is a UNESCO-listed site in the Bharatiya subcontinent.
On March 1, newly elected Dinajpur-1 lawmaker Zakaria Zaka laid the foundation plaque for the mosque on the land of the iconic religious structure.
Following the foundation-laying ceremony, construction started the very next day.
According to the media reports, the local administration immediately claimed that the construction of the mosque had been stopped but in reality, nothing had stopped. Rather the pace of constructing the 3-storey mosque complex was accelerated.
After 23 days of beginning of the construction work, Shakil Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Dinajpur district visited the site on March 24 and told the media that he had imposed ban on all kinds of construction on the Kantajew Temple land.
‘The 94.07-acre land was recorded to Maharaja Jagadishnath Roy. It is located around a mile west of the road across the Dhepa river in the Kantanagar village’, according to Khaitan-5 records.
The land spans many plots surrounding the temple. Daag-16 is around 6.48 acres, where the mosque was being constructed.
According to Khatian-5, around 63 acres of the land, is under the possession of Raj Debattar Estate while the rest was taken by locals, mainly Muslims and many people have been living there with their families.
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