Hamirpur, September 19
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to conduct an inquiry into the affairs of the Sidh Baba Balak Nath Temple Trust and its Chairman B.S. Dehal, who is also the SDM, Barsar. The government took this action following complaints by the people of the area and reports to this effect published in a section of press, including The Tribune.
The ADM, Hamirpur, Dr K. D. Lakhanpal, has been appointed the inquiry officer. He has been directed to submit his report within 15 days.
A report published in The Tribune had exposed the affairs of the temple two months ago, as a result of which the Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner, who is also the Commissioner of the Trust, had sought comments from the SDM, Barsar.
Sources said the Principal Secretary to the Department of Art, Language and Culture, in his letters to the Hamirpur district administration, sought a complete inquiry into the temple affairs from a senior HAS officer and to submit the report shortly.
When contacted the Deputy
Commissioner, Mr Devesh Kumar, admitted having received a letter from the state government to this effect. However, he refused to say anything more on this issue.
Baba Balak Nath Temple is located in the Dhar Sidh Forests at Deotsidh in Hamirpur district. Nearly 45 to 50 lakh devotees visit this shrine every year to pay their obeisance to Babaji, who is the incarnation of Lord Kartkeya, the elder son of Lord Shiva.
The working of the temple trust was under a cloud since the taking over of the present set-up in the temple. Though the income of the temple was going up, complaints of meager facilities to the pilgrims and pilferage of the temple money were on the rise.
The temple income which was just Rs 47,72,895 in 1987, when it was taken over by a government-owned trust, has gone up to Rs 5,23,06,378 in 2003. The
trust spends a sum of more than Rs 3 crore per annum on the salary of the staff.
The trust runs one degree college, one Sanskrit college, two ayurvedic dispensaries and one model school from its own funds.
Sources said the government might take over the control of all educational institutions run by the trust and then formulate a concrete policy for the development of the shrine and the pilgrims.
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Devesh Kumar, said the proposal to hand over the educational institutions to state government had already been sent to Shimla for the approval.
He said there was a need for providing more facilities to the pilgrims, who were the main sources of the trust income.
Sources said the overall control of the temple would be given to a fresh IAS officer for a period of three years as the Chairman of the trust. Earlier, the Barsar SDM used to be the Chairman of the temple trust in addition to his duties.
Similarly, an HAS officer would also be posted as the Temple Officer and both officers would be located at Deotsidh on the Maa Vaishno Devi shrine pattern for the effective management of the trust and the temple.
