The State Government has agreed to meet with the representatives of Devbhoomi Teerth Purohit Haq-Haquqdhari Mahapanchayat Uttarakhand regarding the planned formation of a shrine board.
The representatives of Mahapanchayat met with representatives of State Government on Wednesday evening after they threatened to stay sitting at the Rispana barricading. The Mahapanchayat claimed that the meeting with government representatives had been positive as they had been assured of a meeting soon.
Earlier, more than 500 members of the Mahapanchayat including several Teerth Purohits and Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat rallied towards Vidhan Sabha. They were stopped at the Rispana barricading, where after the initial talks with the administrative officials, the protesters demonstrated on the road demanding direct communication with the Chief Minister or his representative in Vidhan Sabha.
The Mahapanchayat’s general secretary Harish Dimri told The Pioneer, “Our nine member representative team went to meet the government representative State minister Dhan Singh Rawat.
We demanded that the proposal for formation of shrine board should be taken forward after taking the Mahapanchayat of all 51 temples including Char Dham shrines in confidence.” Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said, “We have spoken with them and have explained that the motive behind the shrine board formation is development of Uttarakhand including the Pandits. We also told then that the Government is open to communication and welcomes valuable suggestions and additions.”
However when asked about the proceeding of shrine board bill in the session, he said that State Tourism and Culture minister Satpal Maharaj is better suited to answer the question. It is pertinent to mention here that Mahapanchayat on Tuesday had conducted a protest march for the same demand towards the Chief Minister’s residence.
They have also threatened that if their demand is ignored and the said bill is passed without taking them into confidence, they will undertake protest on a larger scale.