PNBMT holds protest, demands passage of Temples & Shrines Bill

Members of PNBMT raising slogans during protest at Jammu on Saturday. -Excelsior/Rakesh
Members of PNBMT raising slogans during protest at Jammu on Saturday. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 4: Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust (PNBMT) held protest here demanding passage of Temples and Shrines Bill in Kashmir.
The protest demonstration was led by the leadership of the trust including its Chairman, Executive Body and other prominent members of the Kashmiri Pandit society.
The protestors raised slogans and appealed to the Lieutenant Governor to bring the Temples and Shrines Bill.
They also requested the Lieutenant Governor to invite the leadership of the trust to apprise him about the condition of temples in Kashmir and the acute necessity of bringing a bill for their protection.
The protestors raised banned and placards displaying the neglect and pathetic conditions of the temples and temple properties in Kashmir. They expressed anguish over the manner in which the temple properties have been allowed to dwindle over the years.
They said that the passing of Temples Bill would go a long way in building confidence in the exiled community for resettlement in Kashmir.
“The administrative measures have not been able to prevent the loot and plunder of the temples in Kashmir for the last three decades and that’s the reason a bill on the lines of Wakf or Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is need of the hour”, the protestors said.
In light of the recent High Court judgment, the protestors appealed to all the temples committees to immediately report any incidence of encroachment to the concerned DCs with intimation to PNBMT, so that all such acts of illegal occupation of the temples land can be vacated forthwith. The temples committees were also advised to update the land records with the concerned revenue authorities, they added.