Panchkula: Suspend langar, discourage crowds, directs DC, Nada Sahib officials refuse

The gurdwara authorities were also urged to suspend the langar but they turned it down, following which deputy commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, has sought the intervention of Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), headquartered at Amritsar.

In a meeting with heads of all religious institutions on Wednesday, including those of gurdwaras and mosques, the DC said the two weeks up to March 31 were very crucial and asked all religious institutions to cooperate to help keep the contagion at bay.

The 13 biggest temples of the city have already been closed for visitors. The gurdwara management at Sector 7, Panchkula, has also agreed to suspend the langar, though Nada Sahib officials refused to do so.

“When we asked the Nada Sahib officials to stop langars, they outrightly refused and said they will act only on orders of the SGPC. They further claimed that even the Golden Temple has not taken any such step, so why should they,” said an official present at the meeting.

Ahuja, in light of the meeting, has written a letter to the SGPC head office to instruct the gurdwara to suspend the langar.

The mosques too agreed to the mandates given by the administration. While only 50-60 people visit the mosque in Sector 20 every day, the number increases exponentially to more than 1,500 on Fridays. Mosque officials have agreed to issue advisories and ask people to go to their nearby mosques instead. The mosque officials have also decided to open the newly built mosque in Sector 21 to thin out the crowd. Furthermore, people have been instructed to sit at least 3-4 metres apart during the namaaz.

BUSINESS AT USUAL AT NADA SAHIB

The Newsline team visited the Nada Sahib gurdwara on Wednesday afternoon and found it bustling with devotees. The langar hall was also busy with people sitting side by side, with the steel plates going through several hands.
Early this week, the SGPC had directed devotees at the Golden Temple to maintain a distance of 3 metres from each other. They were also told to take batches of 10-15 devotees to the sanctum sanctorum to avoid crowding and sewadars were stationed outside the temple with hand sanitisers. However, there were no such arrangements in place at Nada Sahib. Devotees were taking scarves from a basket as usual and sitting in close proximity.

While handwashes and soaps had been kept at the entry, there was nobody to monitor the visitors. Many among the stream of people, both young and old, skipped the soap.

There was no sign of any santisation exercise as well.

A devotee, when asked about the corona scare, said, “Guru ke ghar mein darrne ki zaruurat nahi (No need to be fearful when you are in the house of god).”

The gurdwara staff, when asked about the instructions issued by the district administration, claimed that nothing had been communicated to them and added that the prashadaas and langar are being made in the same quantity.