Covid delays release of memorabilia to mark to Guru 's 400th birth anniv

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 6

Owing to the Covid restrictions, the memorabilia dedicated to the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur could not be released so far.

The Union Culture Ministry had announced to release special denomination coins, postage stamps and envelopes on May 1 to mark the occasion. Similarly, the SGPC had planned to offer specially crafted gold and silver coins the same day so that the devotees could preserve them as a memoire of the historic occasion.

It has been learnt that the SGPC has hired special craftsmen from Delhi to mint the gold and silver coins, but due to Covid and lockdown, the work could not be executed as scheduled.

Similarly, the coins in special denomination to be released by the Centre along with the postage stamps and envelopes too got delayed due to lockdown.

Due to the pandemic, the birth anniversary was a low-key affair at the Diwan Hall in Golden Temple complex.

Simarjit Singh, deputy secretary of Dharam Parchar Committee of the SGPC, said the gold and silver coins were expected to be readied by the next week.

“Accordingly, these will be officially released as and when we receive the consignment. Due to Covid, the workmanship got limited and hence the programme had to be postponed,” he added.

He said the gold coins would weigh 10 gm, 5 gm and 2.5 gm, whereas the silver ones would be of 50 gm and 25 gm.

He said the coins to be released by the Centre have the image of Gurdwara Guru Ka Mahal with a slogan dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Guru and year 1621-2021 at the bottom has been emblazoned on one side of the coin and denomination on the other side. A similar design was proposed for the stamp and the envelope.

Gurdwara Guru Ka Mahal, few yards away from the Golden Temple, gained significance as it was the birth place of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

The gold and silver coins to be offered by the SGPC would have similar image of Guru Ka Mahal on one side and Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Delhi.

Earlier, the SGPC had released gold and silver commemorative coins on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Box: Coins, stamps were to be released on May 1

The Union Culture Ministry had announced to release special denomination coins, postage stamps and envelopes on May 1 to mark Guru’s 400th birth anniversary

The SGPC had planned to offer specially crafted gold and silver coins on the same day