Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 14: Various organisations have taken serious exception to the decision of National Green Tribunal (NGT) for declaring the Amarnath Cave Shrine as silence Zone and prohibiting religious offering beyond the entry point.
BJP State spokesperson, Prof. Virender Gupta taking strong note of NGT declaring Amarnath cave shrine as ‘silence zone,’ said that the decision of prohibiting chanting of mantras, religious kirtan and carrying anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave has been taken without making any scientific analysis about the effects of the sound created due to chanting of mantras and religious slogans nearby Shiva cave.
In a statement issued here today Prof Gupta said going by the logic of NGT it would stop the movement of traffic particularly heavy traffic like that of Army vehicles, railways and the flight of aeroplanes and helicopters in or on the mountainous region of the State. “There has been not a fractional of damage to the holy cave so far witnessed because of chanting of religious kirtans for the last of so many years, since yatra to the holy cave started”, he added.
Expressing dismay over the NGT order totally prohibiting the religious offerings beyond entry points and chanting of religious hymns near Shri Amarnath Shrine, Ravinder Sharma, Chief Spokesperson, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee has said that religious sentiments of pilgrims should be respected at all costs while taking care of the ecological concerns.
In a statement Sharma termed the order as quite “harsh” hurting the religious sentiments of pilgrims visiting the shrine and demanded review of the same in order to take care of the religious sentiments and faith of the people. He said that although the NGT has taken cognizance of the ecology concerns of the area in and around of the Holy Shrine and also pointed out need for proper infrastructural facilities to have clear darshan, it was also required to take care of religious sentiments attached to the chanting of hymns and religious offerings. There is need to strike a balance between the two and it was the duty of the State and Centre Government as well as Shrine Board to properly project the same in right perspective and sprit, to convince the Tribunal that while taking care of the ecological concerns and all other aspects of the matter, it is important that primarily religious sentiments of pilgrims are in no way hurt.
All Parties Migrants Coordin-ation Committee (APMCC) which has also taken a serious note of the diktat of NGT ordering ban on chanting of religious mantras and ringing of bells during Shri Baba Amarnath Ji yatra termed it a Talibani diktat and warning of dire consequences.
In a statement issued here the APMCC leadership warned NGT for interfering into religious affairs of Hindus and rejected out-rightly the order issued by it.
APMCC chairman Vinod Pandit said that it has become a norm in India to poke nose into the religious affairs of Hindus by such institutions and warned that provoking Hindus every now and then would be disastrous.
King C Bharati, national spokesperson APMCC while condemning the order dared the NGT to stop them from chanting religious mantras during yatras as it amounted to killing the basic spirit behind the most pious yatras of Hindus and direct interference into their religious beliefs.
Advocate Arun Kandroo, general secretary APMCC said that despite the fact that Amarnath Shrine Board had tried to convince the NGT about the sanctity of the chanting of mantras the tribunal has deliberately issued the order to provoke Hindus.
Shiv Sena Bala Sahab Thakrey, State unit condemned the National Green Tribunal’s order for declaring Amarnath cave shrine as ‘silence zone’.
Talking to media persons hear today, State President Shiv Sena Bala Sahab Thakrey, Dimpy Kohli while criticizing the prohibition order said that this will hurt the religious sentiments of Hindu pilgrims.
Kohli said that lakhs of pilgrims visit this holy shrine every year and in spite of providing more and more facilities to them, the NGT put a ban on the religious offering. Kohli appealed to the Government of India to stop hurting the sentiments of Hindu pilgrims and get NGT’s order rolled back.
General secretary, Manish Sahni, working president, Ashw-ani Gupta, senior vice president, Rajeev Bhandari, spokesman, Rakesh Kak, Nathpal Chowdary, Raj Singh and many others leaders and workers were present on the occasion.
Veer Ji Pandita ex-general secretary Prohit Sabha Martand has also condemned NGT decision.
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