SGPC to fast-track US-based global centre

Amritsar, Punjab: With incidents of hate crime on the rise against Sikhs, especially in the US, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to put on fast track the construction of its Global Sikh Centre for Learning and Information, which is to come up in Yuba City, California.

In a release issued here on Tuesday, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said though the groundwork for the centre had been completed, its construction was still to begin. The centre is to come up on 13 acres of land donated by US-based philanthropist Didar Singh Bains.

Makkar said the centre would play a lead role in dealing with cases of hate crime by explaining to the public everything about Sikhism and the separate identity of Sikhs.

He said the cases of hate crime were mainly due to mistaken identity of Sikhs, who were often taken to be terrorists.

He said the Indian government had okayed the project. The NOC from California state has been obtained.

Source: HT