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SGPC adamant on demolition of replica of Sri Darbar Sahib
WSN Network

MASTUANA SAHIB (SANGRUR): Even as the top Sikh clergy asked the SGPC to hold back its horses on the issue of planned demolition of a replica of Harmandar Sahib in Sangrur following assurances by Angitha Sahib gurdwara management to make necessary changes in the structure, the latest diktat by SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, ordering for dismantling parts of the Gurdwara Mastuana Sahib, has widened the rift with the local management. 

Sant Attar Singh Charitable Trust, Angitha Sahib, in turn, claims to have secured the support of over 30 panchayats, gurdwara committees and sports clubs of the area against the forced razing drive. 

Makkar, at a meeting with SGPC members at Gurdwara Nankiana Sahib near Sangrur recently, announced to launch `kar sewa' for razing the domes, bridge and plugging of the sarovar at the gurdwara on October 11. 

He had called upon local panchayats, gurdwara panels and sports clubs to join in. The village elders, in a memorandum to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal and the SGPC president, have demanded their intervention to restrain a confrontation on October 11. 

The Trust, with the help of `kar sewaks' from the area, has already covered the corridor and restructured other parts of the holy shrine even as further changes are underway, they said, warning that the devotees of the area would not allow the forced dismantling operation on Angitha Sahib premises. 

Sikh religious leaders of the area had raised the gurdwara in 1967. 

It was built in memory of Sant Baba Attar Singh, who made huge contribution to the spread of education and teachings of Sikh Gurus in the 19th Century. 

Also, changing the name of the gurdwara to Singh Sabha was not acceptable to them, the elders said. The suggestion of forced razing of the structures has hurt their feelings, the villagers said. The Akal Takht, in its June 20, 2009 edict, had directed that the new structure, which was a replica of Harmandar Sahib, be redrawn.

The hukumnama called for plugging half the sarovar, razing the Har ki Pauri and bridge on the holy sarovar.

7 October 2009
 

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