Haryana Moots Bill For Temple Takeover

Haryana Moots Bill For Temple Takeover 20 Jan 2009, 0312 hrs IST, Sukhbir Siwach, TNN CHANDIGARH: In a controversial move, Haryana government is planning to bring a Bill authorizing government takeover of 15 important temples located in the Shivalik foothills of Yamunanagar district. Out of these, four shrines of Kapal Mochan have been in the midst of power-tussle between the local administration and priests since 1991. The government has Mansa Devi temple, Panchkula, and Mata Sheetla Devi temple, Gurgaon, under its shrine boards. It also oversees the affairs of famous temples of Kurukshetra, Pehowa and Thanesar among others. Now, it proposes to include all temples in four major temples of Kapal Mochan, Badri Narain, Kedar Nath and Mantra Devi under a 15-member board, with chief minister as the chairman and local bodies minister as the vice-chairman. Speaking to TOI on Monday, state urban local bodies minister A C Chaudhary said, “We want to improve the condition of these temples and the government is planning to table The Haryana Shri Kapal Mochan, Shri Badri Narain, Shri Mantra Devi and Shri Kedar Nath Shrine Bill 2009 in the coming assembly session scheduled from February 2.” Alleging “conspiracy of the local administration” behind the proposed move, Kapal Mochan priest Subhash Chander Sharma said, “They have hukamnama (orders) of Guru Gobind Singh to handle the temple affairs. On an average, around 10 lakh pilgrims visit here during the Kapal Mochan Mela in November. Situated on the east bank of (mythical) Saraswati river, the shrine has plenty of sculptures in its expanse spanning Rin-Mochan Kund, Suraj Kund, Vyas Kund and Siddheshwara temple.”

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