Local priests protest against gold plates on sanctum walls of Badri-Kedar temple

Dehradun ( Uttarakhand) [India], September 20 (ANI): Local priests on Monday protested against the Badri Kedar Temple Committee's (BKTC) decision to replace the silver plates covering the walls of the sanctum sanctorum of the Kedarnath temple with gold.
The decision was taken by BKTC when a businessman offered to donate 230 kilograms of gold to the temple.
As per reports, some local priests have been opposing the move.
They say that gold is a symbol of wealth and worldly pleasures and goes against the ancient values of the temple, which signifies separation from the material world.
"This is against the tradition. The four stambhs have Gods in them,....we will not allow this ...if they do not listen to us, we will protest and conduct a hunger strike," said Pandit Vinod Prasad Shukla.
While the other priests said that the sanctum will remain closed until complete clarification is given by the board.
"We oppose this. Until and unless they fully convey it.... the sanctum is to remain closed. We don't support this," said Pandit Santosh Trivedi.
BKTC President took note of the situation and said that there was some confusion which was later resolved.
"Some people thought that there's some sort of altercation in the temple's inner sanctum. We resolved their doubts and explained to them that we are just replacing the silver plates with gold plates," BKTC President Ajender Ajay told ANI.
He further clarified that the whole process is being monitored by experts and archaeologists.
"We talked and we had justified that Somnath already has gold plates...Kashi Vishwanath temple has a gold temple and sanctum. Throughout history it's evident that these ancient temples were prosperous, there were no religious values altered or the move doesn't oppose any religious belief," he added.
In view of the huge crowd of pilgrims in Kedarnath Dham, the temple committee has banned the entry of pilgrims into the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple.
The pilgrims will now be able to have darshan from the Sabha Mandap only.
Committee President Ajendra Ajay told ANI that due to the huge crowd, entry into the sanctum has been banned. He said, "The crowd is expected to remain till October 15, after which it will be reconsidered".
According to the data released by officials earlier, eleven lakh pilgrims reached Kedarnath Dham.
"A record number of passengers have arrived on this visit. The Yatra was affected due to the corona epidemic for two years, but this time the yatra is being conducted duly," District Magistrate (DM) Mayur Dixit said.
Dixit further said, "In the initial phase, there were problems due to excessive crowd. There was some shortage in the cleanliness system too, but all the arrangements have been rectified. Therefore, more than five hundred, sanitation workers are providing their services from Rudraprayag to Kedarnath. Also, the departments related to travel are constantly paying attention to their work."
"The instructions have been given to all the departments that there should not be any problem in the journey. Efforts are being made to provide better facilities to the pilgrims in the Dham including the walking route," he added.
Meanwhile, numerous travellers arrived at the spot. All efforts are being made to provide better facilities to the people, the DM said. (ANI)