Seeing devotees struggle to pray to their favourite deity, a Muslim businessman has donated a plot valued around Rs 1 crore to Sri Veeranjaneya Swamy temple in Hosakote, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
After the government ordered that Sri Veeranjaneyaswami Temple had to make way for the expansion of the national highway (NH-75, Old Madras Road), the temple trust requested H.M.G. Basha, who runs a business in the cargo transport sector, if he could part with some land from his property for the temple that was built nearly three decades ago.
Temple trust chairman, M.D. Byregowda Mylapura, hailed the businessman’s generous act as a classic example of communal harmony.
“We actually needed only a ‘gunta’ of land (about 1,089 sq feet) but he was generous enough to donate us 1.5 gunta citing that the additional space would help devotees move around the temple more freely,” he said.
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On his part, Basha said that he believed in the philosophy of living in peace and harmony.
“Almighty has blessed us and when villagers sought land for such good cause, I did not want to say no to them. And their demand too wasn’t big, hence, my family members happily and readily donated land to them,” he said.
Prior to the IT boom in the 2000s, Hosakote was a dusty town like any other town in Karnataka. Now it is a sought-after real estate destination in East Bengaluru and largely attracts the IT crowd of the city. It is also connected to the well established industrial area Oragadam in Chennai and has become a desired destination for warehouses and industries.
The foundation stone of the temple has been laid and the construction, estimated to cost around Rs 1 crore, is expected to begin in full swing in January 2021.
“Basha’s generosity does not end at just giving land freely to us. He has also assured that he would contribute towards the construction of the temple, besides assuring another half gunta of land if the temple requires once the construction as over,” Temple trust chairman Byregowda said.
Jubilant over Basha’s decision, residents of Valagerapura village erected a poster hailing Basha and his family as the “latest example of communal harmony” from Karnataka, and are circulating its photographs widely.
IANS
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