Taking cognisance of demolition of century-old Tarn Taran Gurdwara Darbar Sahib’s Darshani Deodi (main entrance) that was pulled down by a group of Kar Sewa Babas, the Akal Takht on Monday directed the SGPC to conduct a thorough probe into the instance that has invited the ire of Sikh community.
In a damage-control exercise, the SGPC has announced to take the task of preservation of this historical structure into its own hands.
The structure was constructed by Naunihal Singh, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and possessed a great significance as Sikh heritage.
With the passage of time, its crust had developed cracks with needed urgent renovation. Taking it into account, a resolution no. 550 was passed in July 12, 2018 by the SGPC executive committee to award the ‘kar sewa’ to Tarn Taran-based Baba Jagtar Singh Kar Sewa Wale to reconstruct it in two years. However, following objections from various quarters, this resolution was kept ‘pending’ on October 18, 2018.
All of a sudden, on the intervening night of March 30-31, out of four domes of the structure, three were demolished without keeping the gurdwara management of SGPC in loop. Nonetheless, it had to be stopped after facing the wrath of the sangat.
Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has sternly questioned the SGPC that how could the kar sewa group take to such a non-pardonable act?
SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal was speechless over the happening. “We too were bewildered at this. The resolution of reconstructing the deori was revoked and status quo was being maintained. It was yet to ascertained what prompted the kar sewa group to take to such an aggressive step which has upset the whole community. We have formed a committee to probe it and submit the report as soon as possible,” he said.
Longowal added that the SGPC itself would now reconstruct the damaged portion of the deori and preserve the rest of it ‘as it is’. “We will hire the technical experts for its preservation,” he said.
While suspending gurdwara manager Partap Singh, a three-member committee, including Bhagwant Singh Sialka, Bhai Ram Singh and Gurmeet Singh Buh, has been constituted to probe the incident.
On the other hand, a written apology was submitted by Baba Jagtar Singh Kar Sewa Wale sect to the Sikh community. Admitting that the step was taken haphazardly, they sought forgiveness and vowed that the Sikh Sangat and Sant Samaj would be taken into loop before taking any kar sewa of preserving any ancient historic monument.
Nonetheless, various Sikh organisations and devotees staged protest near the demolished ‘deodi’. Some Sikh organisations carried the strongly-worded banners. Panthic Talmel Sangathan convener and former Jathedar Giani Kewal Singh along with sangathan convener Jaswinder Singh Advocate served an ultimatum to book the guilty kar sewa group within 24 hours.