PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The verbal duel between the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ganesh Godiyal and the chairman of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) on the issue of the offering theft at Badrinath Dham, is continuing to escalate.
On Wednesday, the BKTC chairman Dwivedi addressed a press conference in which he refuted the allegations of Godiyal. He claimed that Godiyal went out of the way to hand over the additional charge of personal assistant (PA) of the chairman BKTC to Pramod Nautiyal who was working as the internet coordinator in the year 2014. Pertinently Nautiyal is accused of theft of donations at Badrinath Dham and is currently under arrest.
Dwivedi further claimed that at the end of his tenure as BKTC chairman, Godiyal flouted all norms and BKTC act of 1939 to appoint Nautiyal on the post of PA and gave two out of turn promotions to him. The grade pay of Nautiyal was Rs 2,800 which was hiked to Rs 4,600 by this act of Godiyal, he said.
Dwivedi also flayed the charge that Nautiyal was deputed to count the offerings by him. He claimed that Nautiyal was working in the counting cell from April 2025 much before he took over the charge of chairman.
Continuing his diatribe on Godiyal, the BKTC chairman said that Godiyal spent money of the temple committee in renovation and repair work of the temples which were not covered by the BKTC. He said that similarly, temple funds were used to construct a road in Tehri district during Godiyal’s tenure.
He said that it is wrong to defame an institution due to the action of one person. Dwivedi said that PCC president Godiyal is engaging in politics on the issue. He said that investigation is going on in the case and no one will be spared.
