Calangute, Aug 21 (TOI): There was tension in the air as a large number of Nerul residents gathered at the site of the demolished Kalimatadevi temple atop the Nerul plateau on Thursday morning and attempted to construct a new temple where the old one existed. A large contingent of policemen was stationed there as a precautionary measure.

Nerul sarpanch Sashikala Govekar, who was in the forefront, said, "Are we just supposed to keep quiet when one of our temples is demolished? Shouldn't our religious sentiments be respected?" Another resident said, "If it was an illegal temple, then proper procedure should have been followed before it was demolished. They can't just go and demolish it without any notice or anything."

Tempers ran high from early morning as around 200 Nerul residents attempted to locate the missing idol from the temple which had been demolished on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. As the search proved futile by around noon, the residents then offered prayers seeking forgiveness from the deity and then vowed to construct a new temple on the spot. A vanload of laterite stones, and other construction material were brought to the spot and residents themselves started constructing the temple in the presence of a large number of policemen from the Porvorim, Calangute and Saligao police stations.

Talathi Madhu Nagvenkar who attempted to serve summons to some of the residents was heckled, and his pleas to sort out the matter through dialogue at the deputy collector's office in Mapusa fell on deaf ears.

Following this, Bardez deputy collector Pundalik Khorjuvenkar arrived at the spot at around 1pm and attempted to pacify the agitated crowd. He was joined by representatives of the Salesian Society who had lodged a complaint of trespass against the residents. "It will take the police a couple of days to investigate the matter and locate the idol, till then have some patience," Khorjuvenkar told the residents. The two sides were then called to the deputy collector's office in Mapusa.

According to Fr Wilfred Fernandes of the Salesian Society, the Kalimatadevi temple was built only recently, countering the claim of residents that it was an old temple. "It did not exist until very recently. No such structure is shown on the survey plan," he said.

The Salesian Society had acquired the land admeasuring 93,000 sq m from the Nerul communidade to build an educational complex. The Nerul panchayat had challenged the acquisition and the matter is now pending before the additional director of panchayats.

The police force, led by DySP Nelson Albuquerque, included PI Brandon D'Souza, PI Nilesh Rane, PI Rajesh Kumar and a large number of PSI's and other policemen and women were present.