The "Hemkunt Parbat": Facilitating Travel
At the initiative of Sr. Tarlochan Singh, MP, the trustees of Gurdwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib met with the governor of Uttarakhand, at Dehradun last February. The Governor, Mr. B.L. Joshi heard the Trustees as well as the state officials. The following is an abridged version of the proceedings:
Sr. Tarlochan Singh, MP drew the attention to the importance the shrine at Hemkunt Sahib, located at over 15,000 ft. It shares common route up to Badrinath, and is open between June and October every year. In the year 1006-07, it attracted 4.5 lakh visitors/pilgrims including 54,000 foreign tourists. The journey to Hemkunt begins at Rishikesh where the Gurdwara complex can accommodate upto 10,000 people.
The pilgrimage to Hemkunt contributes enormously to the local economy. Some 1000 mules are hired for transporting the pilgrims to and from Hemkunt Sahib. The forest department collects tax/cess @ Rs. 30/- per trip per mule. Approximately 1500 porters are engaged, apart from people engaged in the hospitality (small hotels/restaurants/dhabas/lodges).
Points for action by state government
Permission for repair of Gurdwara: There is a ban by the state forest department on taking construction material to Hemkunt Sahib (possibly because it falls under the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve and construction activities are banned as per Supreme Court orders). The trustees said that the Gurdwara was built more than 30 years ago, and due to heavy snowfall, lot of wear and tear takes place every year and that requires to be repaired. Ways and means permitting repairs be examined. If necessary, Hon’ble Supreme Court may be approached for permission.
Sanitation -Garbage Disposal : Taking an initiative for environment protection, the Gurdwara has made arrangements for collecting and bringing garbage from the Gurdwara Shri Hemkunt Sahib to Gobind Ghat. The intention was to incinerate the garbage but possibly there is some sort of ban of Supreme Court. Whether there is any ban on installation of incinerators and, if so, whether any better method is available, can be suggested by the Forest Department.
Electric Supply: The Gurdwara has its own 10 KW generator at Sri Hemkunt Sahib for electricity. A similar generator is required at Gobind Dham. The Gurdwara can put up one at its own cost if the state government would grant permission.
Ropeways: The trustees suggested that the State Government could examine the possibility of installing a ropeway. The first phase of the ropeway could be from Govindghat to Govind Dham, and the second from Govind Dham to Hemkunt Sahib. They added that looking at the large number of visitors (over 4.5 lakh) this could be a profitable venture for whosoever takes up the work.
Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains, MP, was the
Chief Guest
at Vaisakhi Celebrations in Halifax*
* Courtesy: J.S. Tiwana, Director Communications, Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada.
Nova Scotia, Canada’s "ocean playground",is a small province in eastern Canada. It started attracting Sikhs to its beautiful land in the early nineteen sixties. Most of the Sikhs who came here were teachers, engineers and doctors. They mostly settled in Halifax, capital city of Nova Scotia. They formed a Sikh organization, Maritime Sikh Society, on the Baisakhi day in April 1968 and then built a Gurdwara in 1978. This year was the 40th anniversary of the society. It was celebrated with great dhoom-dham all through the month of April
The cultural evening on May 3 was the climax of the
celebrations with Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains, the 30 year old young turbaned Sikh
member of the Canadian Parliament, as chief guest. The society organized a great
show, highly entertaining and it was their best foot forward. There was
excitement and good will all around. Dances, gidha and bhangra performances were
outstanding and well prepared. It was a delight to see young men, women and
children in colorful costumes.
In a brief inspiring speech to a crowd of 350 people, Hon. Bains encouraged the parents and grandparents to focus on the participation aspect of their children’s performance and not on perfection. The Baisakhi function reminded him of his own growing up years. He made his first speech at his local Gurudwara Sahib at the age of 10. There were 20 participants and he was placed 19th and the 20th participant did not show up. But then in 2004, he was only 26 when he won his first election to the Parliament of Canada. He reminded the Punjabi audience that they were Canadians for all intents and purposes and should shed any complex of being a minority. ‘I’m a Sikh by faith, an Indian by background and a Canadian by birth’ as he put his own view as a Canadian citizen
Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains and two members of the founding fathers’s families, Mrs. Surjit Sidhu and Mrs. Rupa Chowdhary, were invited to cut the ceremonial cake. S. Pyara Singh Randhawa, who is credited with building the Gurdwara in 1978 when he was the president, was given the honor to present the gift to the esteemed guest on behalf of the society.
Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains is the federal Member of Parliament for Mississauga-Brampton South in Ontario. First elected in June 2004,he was subsequently re-elected in January 2006 with a significant increase in number of votes. He served as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Paul Martin in the Liberal Govt. Though born and raised in Canada, he speaks Punjabi effortlessly. Mild mannered, soft spoken, a teetotaler,he is a pooran Gursikh and is pretty active in the Guru Gobind Singh Children’s Foundation of Toronto.
Mr. Bains currently lives in Mississauga with his wife Brahamjot and their six month old daughter Nanki.
Guru Granth and Holy Quran the size of stamps
Delhi University’s Museum of rare books
The earliest published work in the museum, which has 100 books and MSS, is an English-Bengali vocabulary by HP Forster, published in 1799. It is claimed that William Carey based his Dictionary of the Bengali Language, (the source of all later Bengali dictionaries) on Forster’s work.
There are also two miniature editions of the Guru Granth Sahib and the Quran Sharif, each the size of a postage stamp. The Granth runs into 1,430 pages and the Quran into 571. The types are so small that they can be read only with a magnifying glass. The books are reported to have been printed at some time in the 18thcentury in Germany.
- A Statesman Report 48 years ago. [Source: Ed. SR]
US based "United Sikhs" provides meals to Burma cyclone victim
USA based UNITED SIKHS along with the Yangon Sikh Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship) has started serving langar to thousands of May 2008 cyclone survivors. They have reached out to the destitute and the homeless with hot food and water. Over 3000 survivors in remote villages received hot food consisting of rice noodles.
Some 13 Sikh volunteers have been cooking the langar at the Yangon Sikh Gurdwara, located on Theinbyu Street. Many volunteers made packets of the cooked food and transported it to Kun Chan Gon, 40 km from the Gurdwara. 25 volunteers formed two groups to deliver food to 1000 survivors at Buddhist Viharas (Buddhist temples) in both the Dalat and Kyaut Tan areas. Volunteers grappled with crippling infrastructure to distribute the hot meals to over 1200 survivors in other affected areas.
To donate go to www.unitedsikhs.org/donate.
[Courtesy: Sr. Partap Singh, DIG (Retd.)]
Sikh Doctor tops in Pakistan
A Pakistani Sikh has made his community proud by topping a medical exam. Mimpal Singh, a registrar with the prestigious Mayo Hospital at Lahore, has topped the diploma in child health exam of Services Institute of Medical Sciences. He is the first Pakistani Sikh to pass the Doctorate in Child Health.
Folk Singer Honoured
Punjabi singer Malkit Singh has honoured by Queen Elizabeth II. He has been named as an M.B.E. i.e. Member of the British Empire, in a ceremony in the Buckingham Palace.
[Sourece: India Today]
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