8 years on, demands to put Damtal temple on tourist circuit get louder

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, March 6

After spending Rs 1.50 crore on the revival and conservation of the original look of the ancient Ram Gopal temple at Damtal in the Indora Assembly constituency of Kangra district over five years ago, the state has failed to harness the potential for religious tourism. The then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had laid the foundation stone of its revival and reconstruction project in 2015.

The temple management is being run by the state government and the Kangra Deputy Commissioner is its administrator-cum-commissioner.

Earlier, the Nurpur SDM was the assistant commissioner of the temple, but after the creation of Indora, a new subdivision, the Indora SDM is the assistant commissioner of the temple.

A Lucknow-based construction company, approved by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), had undertaken the task of the conservation and revival of the Kangra mural paintings and the old heritage of the temple. PhD scholars and students from various universities had visited the temple to study the conservation and revival of the murals.

With the historical Ram Gopal temple getting a facelift, the demand to bring it on the state tourism map has started gaining momentum. Even after spending over Rs 1 crore on the revival of this historical shrine, the state government as well as the temple administration have failed to make any strategy for bringing this historical temple on the state religious tourism map.

The temple was built by Bhagwan Dass, a saint from Pindori Dham in Gurdaspur (Punjab), in Samvat 1550. People visited the seer in large numbers. Even the king of Nurpur visited him, supplicating to be endowed with a son. The seer blessed the king, saying that the dynasty would continue to have only one son for seven generations. Later, the king was blessed with a son. The overjoyed king donated his fort and land adjoining to it to the seer at Damtal. The seer established the idol of Lord Rama at the temple and the place is now known as Damtal Dham.

Anita Sharma, chairperson of the NGO ‘Samarpan’, said the government should popularise this shrine and formulate a strategy to bring this historical temple on the state’s religious tourism map.

She said a delegation of the NGO would soon meet the Kangra DC and the Chief Minister in this regard.

Formulate strategy

The government should popularise this shrine and formulate a strategy to bring this historical temple on the state's religious tourism map. A delegation of the NGO would soon meet the Kangra DC and the Chief Minister in this regard. — Anita Sharma, NGO samarpan

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