AMRITSAR SAHIB—A day after three pilgrims from Kota in Rajasthan were taken ill after consuming ‘parshad’ given to them by some strangers at the Golden Temple Complex here, the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) has announced a string of measures to check such incidents.
Condemning the incident while talking to mediapersons here today, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar appealed the pilgrims not to accept ‘parshad’ from any unknown person while visiting the shrine. He said they were trying to identify the culprits with the help of CCTV footage following which stringent action would be initiated against them.
But, the footage scanned till now did not show anybody giving ‘parshad’ to the victims who could be seen entering the Golden Temple Complex, said sources. They said they were not given ‘karah parshad’ and it could be some sweet.
He said thousands of devotees visit the holy shrine to pay obeisance but some mischievous elements take advantage of their faith in a bid to rob them of their belongings.
The police has registered a case against unidentified persons in connection with the yesterday’s incident following a complaint from Sukhwinder Singh of Kota.
Last month, a devotee from Jabalpur, Amarjeet Singh, had died while five others were taken ill after consuming ‘langar’ put up by a private organisation near Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai on the occasion of Diwali.
The residents of other states were targeted in both the instances.
Fresh measures against ‘toxic’ parshad
* Security to be beefed up in Golden Temple Complex
* Announcements on public address system against accepting ‘parshad’ from strangers
* Staff deployed with CCTV facility to be provided wireless sets
* Four LCD screens to come up to provide information to pilgrims in Punjabi, Hindi and English
* These will come up one each near langar hall, ‘jora ghar’, Atta Mandi entrance and Ghanta Ghar entrance
* Boards will also be put up to caution the pilgrims
* Proper identity cards to be issued to SGPC employees deployed in the Golden Temple ‘parikarma’
* Pilgrims told to take ‘karah parshad’ only from authorised ‘parshad’ counters
