New Delhi: Uttarakhand’s Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple authorities on Monday rubbished the claims on social media that gold plating at the temple’s sanctum sanctorum is actually brass.
The Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) called the social media reports as part of a ‘conspiracy’ to tarnish the image of Kedarnath Dham.
The controversy emerged after videos, shared by users belonging to the Congress and Aa Aadmi Party( AAP), showed gold polish being used on the inner sanctum of the temple.
Workers were seen inside the sanctum-sanctorum showing some tin cans written with ‘gold wash’ on them.
Another clip shows workers sitting on parts of gold-plated material and examining it, according to NDTV.
Reacting to the videos, a senior priest of the Kedarnath temple said there was multi-core scam in the gold-plating of its inner walls.
Priest Santosh Trivedi, the vice president of the Teerth Purohit (pilgrimage priest) Mahapanchayat, said an agitation will be launched if those involved in the scam were not brought to justice.
Trivedi alleged a scam worth "Rs 125 crore", claiming that inner sanctum is covered with brass plates in lieu of gold plating.
Ajendra Ajay, the temple panel chairman, termed the videos as politically motivated done by people who were not happy with the rise in number of devotees to the temple after facilities were improved under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘The campaign is part of a vicious political conspiracy to tarnish the image of Kedarnath Dham. It has been hatched by petty politicians who are envious of the record rise in the number of pilgrims visiting Kedarnath over the past couple of years,’ he was quoted as saying.
The panel reportedly claimed that gold plating was offered by a donor and works were supervised by experts at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).