IEP Chandigarh, December 13
The members of the 41-member Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Ad-hoc Committee met Chief Minister Sh Manohar Lal today at the Sant Kabir Kutir (Chief Minister Residence) for setting up a separate Haryana Sikh gurdwara Management Committee for Haryana.In his address, the Chief Minister said that the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Act was enacted in 2013, which was later challenged in the court . The people of the Sikh community of Haryana desired that the funds of the Gurudwaras of Haryana should be spent in Haryana only and should not be under the control of the Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, so Haryana’s separate Haryana Sikh gurdwara Management Committee should be formed and later the Haryana Home Department issued a notification for the formation of a 41-member ad hoc committee.The Chief Minister announced now an 11-member executive committee will be constituted for the Haryana Gurdwara Management Committee, which will have 5 office bearers and 6 members. He said that this committee will look after the work of administrative management of all the 52 historical Gurdwara Sahib Gurdwaras in Haryana.He further stated that the 41-member committee is temporary till the further elections are conducted. The responsibility of the election has been given to the Deputy Commissioner, Kurukshetra. Firstly, the voter list of Sikhs of Haryana will be prepared. This process is expected to take 6 months. The headquarters of Haryana Gurdwara Management Committee will be in Kurukshetra only. The Chief Minister said that when the elections are held after the voters’ list is prepared, the Haryana Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee will also honour the unanimously elected members on behalf of the government.He said that the Haryana government has always given respect to Sikh gurus. The 550th anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, 450th anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and 400th anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji have been celebrated; besides, a museum and memorial are being built in Lohgarh, Yamunanagar in memory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Ji.The Chief Minister also appealed to the Sikh community of Haryana to collectively contribute for the social cause. It is worth mentioning here that when the Supreme Court on September 22 decided to justify the formation of a separate Haryana Sikh gurdwara Management Committee.
