Cracks appear in SGPC’s new ‘employees union’

GS Paul

Amritsar, July 26

The newly constituted SGPC Employees Union formed by some ‘disgruntled’ employees apparently has started disintegrating within a span of 10 days.

Gurpreet Singh, additional manager of the Golden Temple, who was appointed as the senior vice-president of the union, has submitted his resignation from the union. Sources said many more office-bearers and members could distance themselves from the union.

Incidentally, Gurpreet and the president of the union Gurinder Singh Bhoma were ordered to be shifted out from here recently. While Gurpreet was transferred to Hapur (UP), Gurinder was temporarily shifted to Ujjain (MP) for a stipulated span. Gurpreet said he became the member and later appointed as senior vice-president of the union with his consent only. “Later, I realised that I was going against the ethics and principles of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, so I decided to opt out from the union activities,” he said.

However, Gurinder is determined to go ahead with his plan. An accounts clerk at the SGPC headquarters, he said the union members were determined to be on ‘one platform’ for their cause. “We just intend to have a common platform where the employees could raise their concerns peacefully with the SGPC management and never aim to defame it,” he said.

On Gurpreet quitting the union post, he said: “I have no idea why he backed out? Maybe, he was an easy target as he was among the 51 employees who were recently suspended in the misappropriation of Golden Temple kitchen leftover case,” he said.

A first in SGPC history

For the first time in the 103-year-old history of the SGPC, the employees’ union was constituted under the name of ‘Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Employees Union’ and registered with the Registrar, Trade Union, Punjab, on July 17, 2023.

On July 23, during the official launch of the SGPC’s YouTube channel, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami openly claimed that he had got an authentic feedback that the AAP-led state government had been penetrating the affairs of the SGPC by instigating and alluring its employees to take on the Sikh body in lieu of disturbing the functioning of the SGPC and facilitating to get the union registered.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is dominated by the SAD, led by Sukhbir Singh Badal, with the absolute majority in the House.