Church building to pave way for gurdwara in US

In a historical moment for the Sikh community in the US, a foreclosed building that used to be a Baptist church will be renovated as the first Sikh temple in Rockford, Illinois, media reported on Thursday.
The building on Kishwaukee Street and 3rd Avenue in the Forest City will be renamed as Nanaksar Sikh Temple.
“There is no temple in Rockford. This will be the first one. Some people told me that there are no gurdwaras here so we are doing this for the Sikh community," Wrex.com quoted Nanaksar Sikh Temple supervisor Babaji as saying.
There are nearly 100 Sikh families in the area. Right now, they drive all the way to Chicago, Milwaukee or Madison for worship.
However, the task of doing up the foreclosed building is daunting as $1,00,000 (around `64 lakh) worth of renovation work needs to be done.
The church pews will be removed and replaced by carpets. "Paint and carpeting is a huge project in this 30,000 square-foot building," Babaji said.
Any symbols of the Christian faith in the former church like crosses or stained glass will be preserved during the renovation work and will be donated to local churches or to the Salvation Army, the report said.
The temple will have a grand opening in April next year when renovations are completed but the Sikh leaders hope to start worship services in September this year.
-
Cong takes out ‘Padyatra’ in Jammu; seeks restoration of statehood to J&K
The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Tuesday took out 'Azadi Ki Gaurav Padyatra' from Bhour camp to Satwari chowk here with its working president Raman Bhalla reiterating the demand for restoration of statehood to the erstwhile state. The 'Padyatra' was organised as part of the 75th anniversary of India's independence to recollect the sacrifices of martyrs and spread the message of communal harmony, Bhalla, who was leading the foot march, said.
-
Drug peddler held with 1.10 kg opium in Karnal
The Karnal police have arrested a drug peddler and recovered 1.10 kg of opium from his possession. The police said that the accused, Kuldeep of Bansa village of the district was arrested from Nissing on Tuesday evening. Sub-inspector Rishi Pal said that they got information about a drug smuggler in the Nissing area. During the raid, the police team recovered 1.10kg of opium from him.
-
The highly contagious lumpy skin disease (LSD) has now infected thousands of cattle in Haryana. As per the ground reports, in the beginning, the infection was reported in a few foreign breed cows in the Radaur block of Yamunanagar district. But the virus has now been reported in almost all northern districts of the state. The maximum cases are from Yamunanagar, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Sirsa districts.
-
No fitness fire in Mohali firemen’s belly
Physical fitness, among the primary requirements for firefighters, seems to be on the bottom of the checklist when it comes to the contractual firemen of the Mohali fire department. Recruited two years back, the 24 contractual firemen at the department recently underwent a physical fitness test, pre-planned by the municipal corporation, and were expected to come out with flying colours. But 10 of the 24 flunked majorly.
-
Haryana to give cash award to players finishing fourth at Commonwealth Games
The Haryana government will give a cash award of Rs 15 lakh each to sportspersons who finished fourth at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, minister of state for sports, Sandeep Singh told the assembly on Tuesday. The minister said an equal amount of hard work is put in by the players who finish fourth in any competition. The assembly on Tuesday applauded sportspersons from the state for their excellent performance in the Birmingham CWG.