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| Dereliction of duty by Kashmir DCs…? | | Providing wrong information about condition of temples; say everything is fine | |  RC Jammu uploads information, misleads people
Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Sept 19: In what could be termed as a serious case of dereliction of duties; Deputy Commissioners across the Kashmir valley have provided wrong information about the status of temples in the Valley and said that majority of the temples are in perfect condition without any infringement or encroachment.
In their official communication Deputy Commissioners of Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara have said that most of the temples are intact and no damage whatsoever has been caused to these religious structures. In some cases where the encroachment or infringement has taken place no action has been taken against the violators with the cases pending for years now.
The ground situation in these districts is quite contrary to the reports submitted by the respective deputy commissioners about the status of the temples along with the land attached to these temples. Most of the temples are in dilapidated condition while as many other temples are nowhere on ground since they have been razed with commercial complexes in place.
Sources told Early Times that 80 percent of the 600 temples in the Kashmir valley are in dilapidated condition with the rest being in proper shape as on date. The sources said that the land attached with these temples has been encroached by the land mafia in connivance some of the people who were entrusted to look after the religious property.
"Office bearers and trustees of trusts like Dharmarth Trust, Baba Dharam Dass Trust and Krishan Chander Trust have sold the temples and the allied property across the Kashmir valley. It is due to this reason that these people are opposing the passage and the subsequent passing of the shrine bill. The worst part is that the property has been sold to outsiders with the locals being sidelined in this illegal process," said the sources.
Ironically without verifying the facts Relief Commissioner, Jammu, RK Pandita has put the information about the condition of temples and land on the website. The uploading of the wrong information as provided by the deputy commissioners has given a wrong signal to the people more so Kashmiri Pandits living in any part of the world.
The sources said that the information given by the respective deputy commissioners is full of flaws as it has reduced the quantum of land that is attached with a temple at a particular place. They said that this has been done to show that the encroached land does not belong to the temple thus providing a safe passage to the violators of law.
"In Srinagar district the place where the office of Dharmarth Trust is located had a land holding of 100 kanals but the same has been reduced to merely seven kanals. The rest of the land has either been sold out or leased out in lieu of hefty sum received from different people. Most of the buyers come from outside state and these people have turned into multi-millionaires in Kashmir valley," said the sources.
The sources said that instead of taking action against the violators the deputy commissioners of the districts are evading responsibility by providing wrong information about the status of the temples in their respective districts. They said the divisional administration should take a serious note so that corrective measures are taken and glory of the dilapidated temples is restored. |
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