Call it officials’ apathy of temple committee or deliberate attempt to make confused the pilgrims, the nameplate of suspended Rawal was still hanging at Badrinath temple even after he was removed from the post last year.
It is pertinent to mention here that V Kesavan Namboodiri was suspended from his post last year following a case of alleged molestation of a woman. The then Nayab Rawal Ishwari Prasad Namboodiri was made the new Rawal ceremoniously at the Narsinh temple.
However, the name plate of the suspended Rawal has not yet been removed from the Rawal’s residence in Badrinath. Due to this there is a lot confusion regarding the chief priest of the shrine among pilgrims visiting Badrinath.
Displaying the name plate of suspended chief priest at the Rawal’s residence also exhibits the apathy of the temple committee officials at a time when the State Government is trying to boost the number of people visiting the Char Dham shrines. Astrologer Ramesh Chandra Pande, on a pilgrimage to Badrinath, criticised this stating that such a lapse has exposed the work culture of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee. Among other things, the resulting uncertainty among visiting pilgrims as to who the chief priest of Badrinath is, doesn’t send a right message about the management of the shrines in Uttarakhand.
The BKTC officials apparently have not found time in one and a half years to replace the nameplate of the suspended chief priest from the Rawal’s residence in Badrinath.