Though the Alaknanda Hydro Power Company ltd (AHPCl) was purportedly stating May 13 as the date for uplifting the historical Dhari Devi shrine on the banks of the Alaknanda river near Srinagar (Garhwal), the Ministry of Environment and Forests has written a letter to the company to desist from doing so.
In the letter date May 10, the MoEF director BB Barman clarifies to the company that the Central Government, exercising its power vested under Section V of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, directs that AHPCl shall not undertake any work for dislocation of the deity and all work associated with the Dhari Devi temple till the final order/judgement of the Supreme Court is passed in the aforesaid matter.
In June 2011, the MoEF had issued various directions. It had directed that to preserve the religious sanctity and character of this temple, a modified plan will be prepared in collaboration with INTACH, a conservation architect, the local temple committee and representative of the Geological Survey of India. The plan should, inter alia, examine how part of the rock on which the platform of the deity has been constructed along with the rock that formed its backdrop, shall be mounted at a higher elevation in such a way that it maintains contact with the base rock from which it is raised. In July 2012, the Bharatiya Janata Party sent a communication signed by various senior leaders including lK Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, BS Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank expressing concern for the relocation of the temple stating that Bharti had undertaken a fast unto death for the cause of the preservation of the temple.
The letter issued by the MoEF on Friday, has been welcomed by environmentalists, locals and members of the religious fraternity who will be organising a puja at the Dhari Devi shrine on May 12-13.