Mysuru: Alleging harassment of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Shaikh Tanveer Asif, by not granting permission for the construction of Raja Gopura of Sri Venugopalaswamy Temple on Thyagaraja Road in city, Temple Committee President B.S. Sridhar Raje Urs launched an indefinite hunger strike in front of MCC Main Office on Sayyaji Rao Road this morning.

The 82-year-old Sridhar Raje Urs, donning a red and yellow scarf, usually worn by pro-Kannada activists, accompanied by H. Ravindra Raje Urs, Treasurer of Karnataka Ursu Mahamandali Charitable Trust, sat on dharna at the garden in MCC premises, holding a hand-written placard in Kannada about the strike seeking permission for the construction of Temple Gopura.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Urs said while both the Department of Archaeology, Heritage and Museums and District Heritage Committee have given their permission in December 2024, for the construction of the Temple Tower, which is a heritage structure having completed 121 years of its existence, MCC is taking a delayed stance, without approving the proposal.

“The MCC authorities attribute the delay to the absence of elected Council to facilitate permission for the construction of Raja Gopura. I will be staging the hunger strike until permission is given,” said Sridhar Raje Urs.

In February 2024 too, Urs had staged a day-long solo hunger strike in front of the Temple, against the inordinate delay on the part of a shopkeeper, who had rented a shop in the Temple complex to vacate the premises to facilitate the Gopura works.

Former Minister S.A. Ramdas had performed guddali puja for the construction works of Temple Raja Gopura in January 2024.