STATE TIMES NEWS REASI: Several PRI members and locals in Block Katra of district Reasi have demanded constitution of Nav Durga Jalheri Mata Shrine Board under the chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner Jammu on the pattern of Shiv Khori and Sukrala Mata Shrine Boards. In a representation addressed to the Lieutenant Governor (LG), the Sarpanch Garan Panchayat Asha Devi, who was also a contesting candidate in DDC elections, other PRI members of Katra block besides several local residents urged to establish Shrine Board for Nav Durga Jalheri Mata cave shrine in village Bhangal on the pattern of other Shrine Boards managing the affairs of shrines and temples located in various parts of J&K. They also sought abolition of the existing Trust looking after the management of Nav Durga Jalheri Mata shrine alleging that it is a self-style and fictitious Trust having no locus standi to run the affairs of the sacred place. The signatories to the plea addressed to the LG further alleged that the so-called Trust presently looking after the affairs of Nav Durga Jalheri Mata shrine was constituted by deceiving the gullible villagers of the area, adding that the group of members who are managing the Trust is a coterie of politicians, traders, contractors and transporters who have their own vested intersts behind the veil of the fictitious Trust. They said that the Trust was raised on fictitious grounds as it did not have the approval of the villagers/Gram Sabha despite being the fact that the holy cave is located in village common land (Deh Shamlat). The PRI members and locals appealed to the LG to direct the Divisional Commissioner to look into the matter and initiate steps to form Shrine Board for Nav Durga Jalheri Mata cave shrine.
