Dhawala, Hoshiyar Singh spar over ‘illegal’ building in Kangra district

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, September 3

BJP leader Ramesh Dhawala and Independent MLA from Dehra Hoshiyar Singh are sparring over a multi-storey building coming up on the premises of the Baglamukhi temple complex near the Ranital-Dehra national highway in Kangra district.

Dhawala alleges that the Kangra district administration has not learnt any lessons from the collapse of the Shiva temple at Summer Hill in Shimla due to heavy rain recently. An eight-storey hotel is being constructed on the Baglamukhi temple premises near the national highway. It has been further alleged that this building poses a threat to the lives of pilgrims coming to the temple. “I have written to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the Kangra district administration regarding the building coming up at the temple but no action has been taken,” says Dhawala.

He has threatened to move court against the construction of the “illegal” building if the district administration or the state government fails to take appropriate action.

However, the Dehra MLA has come out in defence of the temple administration. Hoshiyar Singh says the temple is a private property and around 500 persons from the Dehra Assembly constituency are employed there. “It is a famous temple and even the President of India had paid obeisance there. Many national and international personalities pay obeisance at the temple. It is unfortunate that former BJP MLA Ramesh Dhawala is defaming the temple, which is the pride of Dehra,” he adds.

Hoshiyar Singh says that he had never spoken against the “illegal” multi-storey complexes built in and around the Jawalamukhi temple that was earlier part of his constituency. He adds that the Baglamukhi Temple Trust is constructing a hotel as there is no residential facility available for pilgrims. “I had got Rs 30 lakh sanctioned from the previous BJP government. The grant was used for the construction of shops for people who were running kiosks outside the temple,” he says.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Nipun Jindal says that he has not received a written complaint regarding the “illegal” building being built in the Baglamukhi temple.

The Congress government is planning to restrict the number of storeys in buildings in rural areas to two or three but it has said nothing about the existing or under-construction buildings.

The War of words

• BJP leader Ramesh Dhawala alleges that the Kangra administration has not learnt any lesson from the recent collapse of the Shiva temple at Summer Hill in Shimla
• An eight-storey hotel is coming up on the Baglamukhi temple premises near the national highway
• It has been further alleged that this building poses a threat to the lives of pilgrims coming to the temple
• Dehra MLA Hoshiyar Singh, however, has come out in defence of the temple administration
• He says the Baglamukhi temple is a private property and around 500 persons from the Dehra Assembly constituency are employed there
• “It is unfortunate that former BJP MLA Ramesh Dhawala is defaming the temple, which is the pride of Dehra,” he said