BKTC employee caught seeking money from pilgrims to facilitate darshan in Badrinath

Saturday, 10 June 2023 | PNS | JOSHIMATH 

Committee recommends disciplinary action, stresses such acts will not be tolerated

The Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) has recommended immediate disciplinary action against its employee for allegedly taking money from devotees to facilitate a darshan of the lord in Badrinath for them. With a rise in the number of pilgrims visiting Badrinath, people charging money to facilitate a darshan of the lord have also become active which is sending a negative message to the pilgrims. Keeping an eye on the situation, the BKTC caught one of its employees red-handed while taking money from pilgrims to facilitate darshan of the lord in the temple.

The incident reportedly took place on Thursday when a CCTV camera screen in the office of the committee’s Badrinath in-charge Anil Dhyani’s office showed the BKTC sanitation head Veeru Lal taking money from devotees from Chindwada in Madhya Pradesh. The BKTC additional engineer Girish Rawat informed the officer in-charge about this incident. The committee officials called the pilgrims and talked to them in front of the accused worker. The pilgrims alleged that Lal had taken Rs 7,000 from them to facilitate darshan.

The accused initially refuted the allegation but on being questioned strictly, he returned the amount to the pilgrim Rajiv Bhaundekar. The pilgrim then also submitted the allegation in writing to the committee. Following this, a pilgrim from Maharashtra, Sunil Agrawal also informed the officer in-charge of a similar incident in writing. Dhyani said that taking cognisance of the incident the committee has recommended departmental disciplinary action against Lal and sent its recommendation to the high level. It is being suspected that other employees of BKTC could also be involved in similar irregularities.

Strict action will be taken against any person found guilty of such irregularity, stressed the officials. Meanwhile, the pilgrim family from Madhya Pradesh, voluntarily donated the sum of Rs 7,000 to the temple, got a receipt for it and expressed happiness at having had the opportunity to pay their obeisance to the lord. They also appreciated the alertness of the temple committee. It is pertinent to mention here that more than 6,78,687 people have visited Badrinath so far.