Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 29: Alleging that the present composition of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board does not cater for local representation, Anil Gupta, State spokesperson of Bhartiya Janta Party today demanded democratization of the Board.
“70-100 lakh devotees visit Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra every year. It is a major source of revenue providing livelihood to thousands of locals. The shrine is managed by a board with the Governor of J&K as its ex-officio Chairman. The Shrine Board has done a commendable job over the years but has also faced protests and agitations by the locals who are a major stakeholder in the development of the shrine”, said Gupta.
“The involvement of the local stakeholders in any envisaged development project is necessary to ensure that their interests are looked after while planning the project and it does not affect their livelihood”, he said, adding this can easily be achieved by proper constitution of the Shrine Board and giving representation to democratically elected representatives of the people.
The BJP leader said that members of the Shrine Board are nominated by the Governor without giving any representation to the local people. “The criterion for nomination is also not known and hence smacks of favouritism and monopolization resulting in the neglect of local interests”, alleged Gupta.
Gupta said that there is no dispute to the fact that eminent and distinguished people need to be nominated to the Board but there is also a need to democratize the same by nominating the elected representatives, local eminent citizens and civil servants as is done in other Shrine Boards like the Sri Jagannath Temple Board, Gurvayur Shrine Board, Tirupathi and Sabarimalai Temple Boards.
He opined that Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board should be reconstituted to include the MP, local MLA, 1-2 local eminent citizens, the local DC and SSP as ex-officio members. “This would ensure a wider representation and take care of the sentiments of the local stake holders as well”, the BJP leader said.
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