Offerings dip, SGPC urges sangat to donate liberally

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 15

The premier Sikh body, SGPC, too is facing the pinch of the lockdown. With the footfall at the Golden Temple and other major gurdwaras seeing a drastic fall, there is a considerable dip in the offerings received in “golak”, one of the major sources of the SGPC’s income.

An official said since the curfew was imposed, the Golden Temple’s “golak” has been receiving only about Rs 10,000-15,000 a day against Rs 20-25 lakh. Even the online donations have witnessed a fall.

During the normal days, one month’s collection of the Golden Temple, Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh and other 40 gurdwaras is no less than Rs 12 crore. The “karah parshad” collection alone is over Rs 10 lakh per day.

During 2019-20 (till March 31), an amount of Rs 85 crore was received, including cash offerings and online donations.

Since the lockdown was enforced, Rs 5 crore has already been spent on serving langar to the needy in Punjab, Haryana and other states.

Finding itself in a fix, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal has appealed to the Sikh sangat to spare a part of their income for gurdwaras and as the harvesting process is on the way, farmers have been asked to donate a portion of their produce, especially wheat for langar.

Longowal said despite constraints, the SGPC would continue to at least provide food to the deprived sections. “With a drastic fall in donations and offerings, it has become difficult to run the affairs. We need raw food on a daily basis in our kitchens to serve the needy,” he said.

The SGPC has been providing cooked food to around 2.5 lakh people daily through 80 gurdwara, which prepare 75 quintals of dal and 10 quintals of rice daily. An estimated 300 quintals of wheat flour is consumed in a day.

No supply at PDS rates yet

On the intervention of Union Minister Harsimrat Badal, the Centre had given its nod for the supply of wheat and rice for langar at PDS rates. The PDS rate of rice is Rs3 per kg and wheat Rs2 per kg. The order has not been implemented so far, said SGPC vice president Rajinder Singh Mehta

Rs 5 cr already spent on serving needy

During 2019-20 (till March 31), an amount of Rs 85 crore was received, including cash offerings and online donations. Since the lockdown was enforced, Rs 5 crore has already been spent on serving langar to the needy in Punjab, Haryana and other states