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Security issue worries temple administration
THE BLAST at famous Sankat Mochan Temple on Tuesday has worried the temple administrators? Not for ?lack of security? but for their ?apprehension? that the government may deploy security in the temple.
THE BLAST at famous Sankat Mochan Temple on Tuesday has worried the temple administrators? Not for ‘lack of security’ but for their ‘apprehension’ that the government may deploy security in the temple.
It is the faith in Sankat Mochan Temple, which draws huge crowds on every Tuesday and Saturday. The terrorists who planted the powerful bomb on one such Tuesday on March 7 seemed aware that the day was appropriate for causing maximum casualities. And, the same happened.
Whereas devotees would never want to become a soft target of the terrorists who struck at will in the temple town on Tuesday, the Sankat Mochan Temple administration are worried, as they are against security deployment inside the temple.
As the Central government is looking on the possibility of deploying CISF at important religious places in the country as per Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil’s statement on Friday following Varanasi blasts, head priest of Sankat Mochan
Temple,Varanasi, Prof Veer Bhadra Mishra told HT that he was against government security on the lines of Vishwanth Temple.
“We would like to deploy our own men on security duty but in no case would we allow frisking of the devotees,” Mishra who is a retired Professor of Civil Engineering, Banaras Hindu University, said.
As Varanasi SSP Navneit Sekera on Friday announced round the clock videography at Sanskrit Mochan temple, Veer Bhadra Mishra said, “Whatever the government wants to do, it should be done outside the temple.”
The two sides seems to be at loggerheads. This was evident during the visit of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to the blast site inside the Temple premises.
Soon after the blast, the police had put some restrictions on the movement of devotees. Another Mahant of the temple Vishembar Nath Mishra’s only complaint to the State government was, “There should be no restriction on the movement of pilgrims.”
The chief minister directed the accompanying DG PAC Bua Singh to immediately lift the restrictions.
Sankat Mochan Temple, it may be mentioned, houses Hanuman idol and is known as the second oldest temple in Varanasi after the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
