STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A delegation of Sant Samaj under the chairmanship of Mahamandaleshwar Rameshwar Das on Sunday called on the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr. Raghav Langar regarding issues and problems that the Sant samaj and various temples.
Mahamandaleshwar Rameshwar Das said that a Mahant should also be included as the member of any trust, shrine board or temple committee in every district for proper transparency.
He further said that the Sant Samaj in J&K has been taking care of temples and shrines since past many years but if any Sant/Sadhu/Mahant meets their end while visiting the any shrine or temple, there corpse is not allowed to take Samadhi in the temple or at the shrine and is discriminated and disrespected. So in order to avoid this, he said, a special place shall be allocated for the Sant/Sadhu/Mahant to take Samadhi, if they meet their end while visiting any shrine.
Mahant Dutt Giri said that in J&K there are a lot of historic temple which have been taken care of by various Sants and Mahants since the time of the rule of the King.
The land adjoining the temples was either used for cultivation, agriculture or shops selling goods which the devotees might need while visiting the temple.
But presently, the land of the temple is being used for commercial purposes by shops owners and also land mafia have encroached and are actively trying to encroach the left over land which belongs to the temples, he said adding that also the land that has been encroached by land mafia shall be released and restore back to the temples.
Mahant Rajesh Sharma said that lands nears shrines like Vaishno Devi, Shiv Khodi, Baba Amarnath, Budha Amarnath Sudmahadev and other shrines should be provided to the Sadhus at cheaper rates as it is provided in the other states of India so that they can perform religious activities like Yug. They handed over the memorandum saying that they hope that action will be taken against all the demands mentioned in the memorandum and strict action be taken against the land grabbers and mafia who are trying to capture the temples land.
Divisional Commissioner Jammu ensured the delegation of Sant Samaj that special land shall be allotted for the Samadi purpose of Sant Samaj so that nobody is discriminated and he will try to fulfill all the demands mentioned within the memorandum handed to him by the delegation of Sant Samaj.
Mahant Sat Narayan Das, Mahant Mangal Dass, Mahant Mohan Bharti were also present in the delegation.