In the backdrop of the Supreme Court direction to rival groups of SGPC and HSGMC to maintain status quo on the management control of gurdwaras in Haryana till further orders, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said law and order will be maintained at all cost in the State.
Soon after the court’s order, over management of gurdwaras in Haryana, the Chief Minister said, “we will follow it. We will maintain law and order at all cost and nobody will be permitted to take law in his hands.”Talking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, he said HSGMC has already constituted a 41-member ad-hoc committee, adding, “I am being told that the Supreme Court has also asked SGPC and HSGMC to open separate bank accounts in which all incomes of gurdwaras under their control will be deposited.”
Though Hooda reiterated his appeal to maintain peace, he lambasted Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar for not caring for the affairs concerning Sikhs of Haryana. “Badal and Makkar must understand that there is a need to protect the rights of Sikhs of Haryana too,” he said.
Talking to reporters separately, Makkar said efforts would be made at all levels to find an “amicable solution” on the issue of gurdwara committees of Punjab and Haryana. Reacting to the Supreme Court order, he said, “We will find some solution to resolve the issue.” He said five gurdwaras in Haryana were already under the control of locals who have been elected by an 18-member panel of the SGPC.
However, the gurdwara at Ghula Cheeka in Kaithal, whose control was taken over by HSGMC on Wednesday, was earlier under the hands of Amritsar-based SGPC, he added.Makkar said that there are 25 big Sikh shrines in Haryana of which earnings of 17 are below Rs 35 lakh per year while donations at eight gurdwaras goes over Rs 35 lakh annually.