The Bihar Government has decided to organise the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh and is putting in all efforts to provide all the facilities to pilgrims coming from across the world. The celebrations named as Prakash Parv would be observed from December 30, 2016 to January 7, 2017 at the Guru’s birth place Patna Sahib.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said all the arrangements were being done by his Government without any support from the Centre despite a request to the PMO five years back with several reminders. “The Centre took no interest in extending any help to hold this historic event and only the Railway Ministry has been doing some renovation and extension work at Patna Sahib Railway Station,” said Nitish at a Press conference on Wednesday. But he hastened to add that he had no complain against the Centre.
“Over five years back after the Nanded Sahib celebration which had been funded by the Centre, we wrote letter to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also met him but our request has not been considered till date,” the CM told reporters, some of them coming from national capital and abroad.
The CM also promised to set up Guru Gobind Singh chair in some University, an institute of Sikh studies and to develop a Sikh circuit connecting places associated with the Gurus having significant historical importance in Bihar.