Nada Sahib gold safe, says SGPC

Amritsar, Punjab: The entire gold and cash of Gurdwara Nada Sahib is in safe hands, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has stated on Thursday, challenging the accusation that all the offerings were missing from the Panchkula shrine.

For the “missing gold”, Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) president Jagdish Singh Jhinda had blamed the SGPC and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders who had been assigned to “protect” the shine from his new, separate body. “His allegations are false and baseless,” SGPC additional secretary Daljit Singh Bedi claimed in a statement issued here, adding: “Jhinda is trying to defame the SGPC.”

“The committee has the record of all gold offerings; and Jhinda can check it, if he so desires.” said Bedi, expressing surprise at Jhinda’s claiming that the “golak” (donation chest) at Nada Sahib was empty, when “it has never been”.

Bedi said there was no fixed time for opening the “golak” or counting the offerings.
“It is avoided during festival days or special religious occasions. The managements first discuss it with the gurdwara inspector concerned and then on a day fixed with the consent of the SGPC headquarters, do it in the presence of its representative, the gurdwara inspector and the shrine manager,” said Bedi.

He added: “Everything from the time of opening to the last second of closing is entered in books.”

The SGPC official counter-accused Jhinda of opening the “golaks” of the shrines at Kurukshetra and at Gulah Cheeka in Haryana, adding that the offerings had disappeared. “His sole motive in forming the separate committee was to take control of the ‘golaks’,” alleged the SGPC additional secretary.

Source: HT