Ramtirath (Amritsar), April 5
Mystery
shrouds the death of more than 50 per cent of the fish in the holy tank of the
ancient Ram Tirath temple here during the ‘kar seva’ which has been under way
since January 8, despite the stay orders of the Ajnala court.
Ram Tirath Temple
is a heritage site where Balmikji scribed the sacred ‘Ramayana’. The temple is
also the birth place of Luv and Kush, the sons of Lord Rama.
Several Mahants,
who have been fighting a legal battle against the local minister, the Chairman
of a state corporation, the Deputy Mayor of the corporation and the district
administration, alleged that the fish had died due to “some mischief” played by
vested interests. Senior officials of the Fisheries Department claimed that the
mortality of the fish seemed to be due to depletion of oxygen in the tank .
However, Dr J.S. Bedi and Dr Mohinder Singh, Fisheries Extension Officers, said
they had taken water and soil samples of the ‘sarovar’ (holy tank) which were
sent for examination to the local agricultural office. To a question, both
officials said preliminary investigations had indicted that the fish died
because of BOD (biological oxygen demand) as sufficient water had been drained
out from the holy tank for undertaking ‘kar seva’. They said the respiratory
system of the fish, especially common carp, seemed to have chocked because of
the depleted water. Insiders say the fish died when hundreds of ‘kar sewaks’
took a bath in the sarovar after the second phase of the ‘kar seva’ was
inaugurated by Dr Raj Kumar, an MLA of the ruling party, yesterday.
Though, the
foundation stone for launching the ‘kar seva’ was laid by Mr Sardool Singh
Bandala, Excise and Taxation Officer, on behalf of the Chief Minister who had
cancelled his visit at the 11th hour on November 18 last year amid a lot of
controversy, yet the district administration failed to take precautionary steps
to save the fish. Interestingly the other species of fish including rohu, catla
and Mrigal which remain on the upper layer of water were not affected like
common Carp.
Hundreds of men, children and women blocked the main
Amritsar-Ajnala road for more than three hours even as officials of the district
administration and police took a long time to reach the site.
Various temples
inside the Ram Tirath complex and adjoining shops remained closed for several
hours owing to this incident.
Some of the persons buried the dead fish in the
adjoining open areas of the temple while many persons were seen taking them in
cycle-carts, though the Fisheries Department had warned that dead fish should
not be consumed.
Earlier, the state government had proposed establishment of a
Shrine Board on the pattern of Mata Vaishno Devi after the visit of Dr Jagmohan,
Union Minister for Tourism, on April 4 last year.
A sum of Rs 1 crore has
already been received by the district administration to be forwarded to the PWD
for the facelift of the temple.
The Rs 2.50 crore facelift plan includes
replacement of wornout sandstone in the parikarma at a cost of Rs 72 lakh,
illumination (Rs 16 lakh), installation of two deep tubewells for drinking water
and filling of holy sarovar (Rs 20 lakh) construction of concrete parking (Rs 29
lakh), construction of 4 toilet blocks (Rs 27 lakh) and improvement of the
existing periphery road (Rs 40 lakh).
