Close on the heels of the central government withdrawing the contentious farm laws, theUttarakhandgovernment on Tuesday announced repealing of theChar DhamDevasthanam Board Act, which had brought over 50 temples, including Char Dham shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath, under the state’s control.
The act, which had led to constitution of a board, on the lines of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, headed by an Ias officer, was strongly opposed by the priests of the Char Dham shrines as they claimed it was an effort to deprive them of their centuries-old rights of administering the temples.
The fears were compounded when earlier this month, before PM Modi’s visit to Kedarnath on November 5, protesting priests had stopped former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, regarded as the architect of the act, to enter the Kedarnath temple premises.