40 years after Himachal temple law, no facilities for devotees despite crores in banks

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Ravinder Sood

Palampur, March 3

The state government had taken over the management of most of the major temples in the state by bringing the “Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1984”, but 40 years on, it is yet to benefit the devotees visiting these shrines.

No change has been seen and much remains to be done to make a pilgrimage of millions seeking divine solace at these shrines more safe and comfortable. At present, over 34 temples in the state are under the control of the government.

Many major shrines of northern India like Mata Chintpurni, Maa Brajeshwari, Jwalamukhi, Chamunda Mata, Baba Balak Nath, Naina Devi and an ancient Shiva temple are situated in Himachal.

While taking over the management of these temples, the intention of the then Chief Minister Virbadhra Singh was to develop the state’s “Shakti Peeths” on the lines of the Vaishno Devi and Tirupati Balaji temple. Decades have passed since then, but the Himachal Government is still nowhere near doing this despite these temples having deposits worth crores of rupees. Rather, the situation has changed for the worse.

Senior government officers were deputed many times to visit Vaishno Devi and Tirupati Balaji, at an expense of lakhs of rupees, but not much improvement was made and millions of devotees continue to suffer.

Today most of the temple lack basic amenities, including parking spaces, toilets, drinking water, medical facilities and better accommodations. Besides, the deteriorating law and order situation has also become a matter of concern as anti-social elements are active in all the temples, fleecing the pilgrims. The recent brutal attack on devotees at Jwalamukhi temple has brought a bad name to the state.

A former civil servant, who served for a long time as a temple officer in various temples of the state, said the state government should set up “Devasthan Board” like Uttrakhand, bring all the 34 temples under one banner headed by a senior IAS officer, a masterplan for the development of temple should be prepared. “The temples should have an independent cadre and the staff should be transferable. Temple funds should not be diverted for other purposes at the behest of politicians, it should be utilised for the benefit of devotees only,” he added.

Bijender Sharma, a resident of Jwalamukhi closely associated with many temples of the state, said the government should implement the report of the BC Negi Committee, which was constituted on the directions of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to look into temple affairs.

The committee, headed by a former Chief Secretary, had made important recommendations, including pertaining to the utilisation of temple offerings. “The committee has also made very strong observations about the purchase of vehicles from the temple funds being used by Deputy Commissioners, who are the temple Commissioners, and SDMs, but in the absence of political will all remained confined to official files,” Sharma said.

“The government should develop a religious tourism circuit in the state. Temple funds piling up in banks should be utilised for the benefit of devotees instead of being diverted for other purposes by the government,” he added.