After Amritsar, Nanded joins green pilgrimage club

Amritsar, Punjab: After the holy city of Amritsar, Nanded in Maharashtra, where Takht Sri Hazur Sahib is located, has joined the Green Pilgrimage Network, thus making a commitment towards becoming eco-friendly.

The development came at a meeting held at Trondheim in Norway on Saturday, which brought together delegates from all over the world. Representatives of several cities belonging to various faiths took a pledge towards augmenting green cover. Nanded would focus on a five-point agenda, including sewage and waste management, saving river Godawari and water conservation, green energy (solar and bio-gas), green transport/pollution control and organic agriculture/tree plantation.

US-based EcoSikh also aims to create key partnerships between Nanded municipality and various international NGOs working on the issues of sustainability and city planning. “Hazur Sahib Committee has always welcomed all that is good for the holy city and we promise to put all our efforts towards greening and eco-friendliness,” said Sri Hazur Sahib Gurdwara Board chief executive officer DP Singh Chawla.

EcoSikh president Dr Rajwant Singh said, “We are excited to see Hazur Sahib, a revered shrine of the Sikhs, on the path of becoming an international destination working towards the preservation of the planet.”

Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), a secular body that helps the world’s major faiths develop their own environmental programmes based on their core teachings, beliefs and practices, had launched the Green Pilgrimage Network in November 2011 in Assisi, Italy.

The aim was to bring eight faith cities, including Amritsar, on a common platform and make them the founding members.

Martin Palmer, ARC secretary general, said, “Sikhs are showing their commitment towards nature preservation by bringing Amritsar and now Nanded on the Green Pilgrimage Network.”

ECO PLAN

• All cities on the Green Pilgrimage Network try to promote eco-friendly measures, including plantation
• The network was launched by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation at Assisi, Italy, in November 2011
• The alliance is a secular body that helps the world’s major faiths develop their own environmental programmes based on their core teachings, beliefs and practices

GOLDEN TEMPLE REPAIR ‘KAR SEWA’ FROM AUG 18

Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar has said the ‘kar sewa’ for repair and replacement of the damaged gold-plating and artwork inside the Golden Temple will begin from August 18. Makkar, in a statement released here, said the ‘kar sewa’ had been entrusted to Baba Kashmir Singh Bhuriwale and all efforts would be made to maintain the originality and uniformity of the artwork. He said the ‘Gurbani Kirtan’ inside the sanctum sanctorum will continue as usual during the ‘kar sewa’.

Source: The Tribune