Golden Temple Sacrilege: Amritsar hoteliers face the brunt as bookings cancelled

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 19

The alleged killing of a man who was held for trying to commit blasphemy in the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple led to panic among tourists. Many of those who had booked rooms in advance, cancelled their visit or put off their plans.

Surinder Singh, president of the Federation of Hotels, Guest Houses Association, said hoteliers were receiving panic calls from tourists and trying to convince them that it was a single incident of its kind. “Largely, the city is peaceful and there is no need to panic,” he said. Even then he anticipated that there would be 5 to 10 per cent shortfall in room occupancy this week.

Piyush Kapoor, manager of a hotel, said at present, the tourist season was at its peak and room occupancy was 100 per cent this weekend. He ruled out that there would be any significant impact on room occupancy in city hotels.

Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties and Sikh organisations condemned the attempt of sacrilege inside the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. Harnam Singh Khalsa, head of Damdami Taksal, condemning the sacrilege attempt in the Golden Temple held governments responsible for not giving punishment to those committing blasphemy.

The Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) strongly condemned the attempt to desecrate the Guru Granth Sahib. CKD president Nirmal Singh lamented that the perpetrator tried to commit blasphemy in Sri Darbar Sahib, which was a shameful and unforgivable act. It caused outrage among members of the Sikh community all over the world. He said there was a big conspiracy behind this unfortunate incident which needed to be exposed.

Sikh Students’ Federation and Shiromani Committee members Bhai Gurcharan Singh Grewal and Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh Khalsa while praising the vigilant role played by the Shiromani Committee, termed the action of sangat and the committee as a matter of urgency. They also met SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami in this regard.

The Jathedar Hawara Committee stated that the unfortunate incident drew the attention of the sangat to the useless management of the SGPC. Its leaders stated that it did not learn any lesson from the smoking incident at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib, throwing of Gutka Sahib in the Amrit Sarovar of Sri Darbar Sahib.