Many villagers here are now saying that the devastation experienced in Uttarakhand was the result of the curse of the goddess incurred for shifting the idol of Dhari Devi from its temple at Kaliyasaur, 15 km far from Srinagar, where it had been worshipped for many centuries.
Some villagers now claim that the goddess had appeared in their dreams before the disaster, warning them against shifting her idol from its original location. The idol was shifted on June 16 as waters of the Alaknanda, caused to rise by increased flow of water from the outlets of Srinagar hydro power project threatened to submerge the temple.
The temple committee and priest decided to shift the idol to a safer place in the near by temple as temporary arrangement. The temple committee was earlier against shifting the idol before July 4 as astrologically, Jupiter was yet to ascend, but due to the rise of Alaknanda river, they were forced to shift the idol of Dhari Devi.
The district administration has provided one head constable and two constables to safeguard the idol. The GVK company in-charge of uplifting Dhari Devi temple Satjeet Khanduri told The Pioneer that the the construction for the uplift of the temple is almost completed and the new temple will be constructed in two months. Khanduri said that the structure of the shrine is being prepared by archtitect KC Kuriyal.
The temple will be developed in 6000 sq metres area, with a priest room, office, museum, dharmshala and other facilites. The cost of constructing the entire structure will be around Rs 12 crore and will take a year to complete. While the temple priests stresses that the devastation is not a result of Dhari Devi’s curse, but because of the humans indiscriminately exploiting natural resources, many locals say that the disaster is the outcome of angering the goddess.