Questioning motives of the State Government behind formation of shrine board, Teerth Purohits and traditional right holders from Char Dham shrines and other temples proposed to come under the board rallied in protest towards the Chief Minister’s residence under the banner of Devbhoomi Teerth Purohit Haq—Haquqdhari Mahapanchayat Uttarakhand.
They were stopped by the police at Hathibadkala barricading point where they sat on the road and continued their protest.
The president of Mahapanchayat, Krishnakant Kotiyal said, “The decision to establish this shrine board was taken in a night without taking representatives from Char Dham into confidence.
We reject the proposal for formation of shrine board and demand that Government take us into confidence first and then take further actions regarding this.”
The representative of Kedarnath Samiti, Vinod Shukla said, “After the 2013 disaster at Kedarnath shrine some works are still incomplete. The pilgrims and tourists coming there are still lacking basic amenities like electricity, water and a place to stay. We have not been informed about the details of shrine board but have heard only bits through media.”
The Mahapanchayat general secretary from Badrinath, Harish Dimri said, “The motives of state government are questionable.
They say that the shrine board is being established on the lines of Tirupati Balaji and Vaishno Devi shrines, which stay open throughout the year. Our Char Dham shrines stay open for six months.”
The representative from Yamunotri, Kirtishwar Uniyal said, “In 1982 when glacier hit temple at Yamunotri no representative from the then Government came to help.
We ourselves contacted one of the devotees who helped in the renovation of the temple. Similarly in 2004 six people died there but not a single person from the government came to ask about them.
In 2018, many of the Kunds there got damaged but we conducted the renovation work from our own funds. Now suddenly the government is coming into picture and claiming its authority there.”It is pertinent to mention here that other representatives from all 51 temples during the protest march raised their concern as well.
One of them said that if it is about transparency and proper management then the government should apply the rules of shrine board on churches, mosques and gurudwaras as well.
It is also important to mention here that city magistrate had not granted permission to the members of Mahapanchayat for conducting their protest march to the Vidhan Sabha.