Himachal’s Baba Balak Nath Temple to overhaul SOP after alleged irregularities

New administrative procedures will soon be established at the Baba Balak Nath Temple in Himachal’s Hamirpur district, and preparations are underway to implement a “transparent” system on the lines of Kashi Vishwanath and Mata Vaishno Devi trusts, officials said.

The district administration is preparing a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to revamp the temple’s offerings, material sales, and income-expenditure management after irregularities were discovered during the offerings count, a spokesperson of the temple trust said here on Saturday, referring to the arrest of two employees of the trust earlier this month.

The district administration has acknowledged the need to improve the process, and a new digital system will be implemented to ensure that, he said.

Under the new SOP, each count will result in a printed slip detailing the number of notes and the total amount. The counts will be verified manually. Each bundle will be packed with a plastic seal, recording the amount and number of notes. This new process will attempt to reduce the possibility of irregularities or human error to almost zero, he added.

According to the information available on the Hamirpur district’s website, Sidh Baba Balak Nath is a Hindu deity worshipped prominently in the Northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Jammu and Kashmir. His shrine is known as ‘Deotsidh’.

In addition to money, devotees offer ghee, flour, roats (a homemade sweet), and other items to Baba Balak Nath.

The trust has previously faced allegations of irregularities in the sale and auction process of these items, and the district administration is studying the management of other temple trusts to implement their “successful model” in Deotsidh, officials said.

Temple trust commissioner and Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and ADC Abhishek Garg will visit Deotsidh after Diwali to conduct a field inspection of the arrangements. The new SOP will be finalised then, the spokesperson said.

Garg confirmed the plan and said the calculation of the offerings will be made more transparent.

Meanwhile, temple officer Sandeep Chandel said the old buildings at the Baba Balaknath Temple are being dismantled to clear the path for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) renovation project worth Rs 65 crore.

Its main objective is to provide more facilities to the pilgrims visiting the temple from all parts of India and abroad, officials said.

The project is expected to be completed in approximately two to two and a half year after the old buildings are dismantled. The tender process for the ADB project has also been completed, and materials have started arriving, they said.

Through this project, an eight-storey parking lot for approximately 250 vehicles will be constructed along the main road, with elevator facilities. Sarai No. 7 will be demolished and replaced with four floors, featuring large halls for the convenience of devotees, according to officials.

A four-storey building will also be constructed for the library, museum, and an Ayurvedic hospital. Additionally, an administration block will be constructed and ramps will be built for the convenience of devotees, they said.