The new administrative procedures will soon be established and followed at the Baba Balak Nath Temple in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district. Meanwhile, preparations are also underway to implement a "transparent" system, similar to the Kashi Vishwanath and Mata Vaishno Devi trusts, officials said.
The district administration is drafting a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to overhaul the temple’s offerings system, material sales, and financial management, following irregularities uncovered during the offerings count, a temple trust spokesperson said on Saturday, referring to the recent arrest of two trust employees.
The need to improve the process was acknowledged by the district administration, and a new digital system will be implemented to ensure this. Under the new SOP, each count will result in a printed slip detailing the number of notes and the total amount. The counts will be verified manually. Each bundle will be packed with a plastic seal, recording the amount and number of notes. This new process will attempt to reduce the possibility of irregularities or human error to almost zero, the official informed.
Sidh Baba Balak Nath is a Hindu deity worshipped prominently in the Northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Jammu and Kashmir. His shrine is known as 'Deotsidh'.
Previous allegations -
The trust has previously faced allegations of irregularities in the sale and auction process of these items, and the district administration is studying the management of other temple trusts to implement their "successful model" in Deotsidh, officials said. Temple trust commissioner and Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and ADC Abhishek Garg will visit Deotsidh after Diwali to conduct a field inspection of the arrangements. The new SOP will be finalised then, the spokesperson said.
Garg confirmed the plan and said the calculation of the offerings will be made more transparent.
Meanwhile, temple officer Sandeep Chandel said the old buildings at the Baba Balaknath Temple are being dismantled to clear the path for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) renovation project worth Rs 65 crore. Through this project, an eight-storey parking lot for approximately 250 vehicles will be constructed along the main road, with elevator facilities. Sarai No. 7 will be demolished and replaced with four floors, featuring large halls for the convenience of devotees, according to officials.
A four-storey building will also be constructed for the library, museum, and an Ayurvedic hospital. Besides this, an administration block will be constructed and ramps will be built for the convenience of devotees, they said.
Follow us
