In a recent update to the Devasthanam board dispute of Uttarakhand, Chardham Teerthpurohit Haq Hakukdhari Mahapanchayat Samiti has decided to start a state-wide agitation against the state government from Tuesday, Aug 17. The protest is focused on demanding the dissolution of the Devasthanam Board. The committee has informed that its members will march to Chief Minister’s residence on Aug 16 to put forth their demands.
President Krishnakant Kotiyal expressed disbelief in BJP
During the agitation, the committee will oppose the local public representatives by holding black flags.
At a press conference, Chardham Teerth Purohit Haq Hakukdhari Mahapanchayat President Krishnakant Kotiyal said he has met CM Pushkar Singh Dhami over the demand for the dissolution of the Devasthanam Board further leaving the pretext of forming a high power committee. Kotiyal expressed his disbelief in BJP and said, ‘”The BJP government is not in favor of dissolving the Devasthanam Board”.
The Teerthpurohits associated with the BJP have started to resign from the primary membership of the party, demanding the dissolution of the Devasthanam Board in Rudraprayag.
On Saturday, August 7, under the leadership of Kedar Sabha President Vinod Shukla, the pilgrims raised slogans and staged a protest in the Kedarnath temple premises. A procession was also taken out from the temple road to the helipad via Sangam. During this, BJP’s Deepnarayan Shukla, Devendra Shukla, Sanjay Shukla, Mukesh Bahuguna, Arvind Shukla, Amit Bagwadi, Hazari Prasad Semwal, Satish Shukla, Priyanshu Tiwari, Pawan Kumar, Lalit Shukla, and others resigned from the primary membership.
The next step of protest
Following the August 17 movement, Panda priests and local people of 51 temples plan to further intensify the agitaion by protesting on roads in Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Ukhimath, Kharsali, Rudraprayag, Devprayag, Rishikesh, and Dehradun.
Initially, the people of Panda Purohit society will be on a fast and will continue till death if the demands are not considered.
COVID-19 situation in Uttarakhand
To date, Uttarakhand has reported a total of 3.42 lakh COVID-19 cases with 7,368 deaths. The state has administered a total of 67,95,101 COVID-19 vaccine doses across 606 vaccination sites. On Tuesday, August 10, the Uttarakhand government had announced a seven-day long curfew, starting from Wednesday, August 11. The restrictions will be in place till August 17.
