High-level panel to probe alleged scam in gold plating at Kedarnath temple

The state government is "extremely sensitive" about the matter. Action will be taken against whoever is found guilty, Maharaj said.

The Uttarakhand government has decided to set up a high-level committee to probe allegations of a Rs 1.25 billion scam in gold plating the sanctum sanctorum of the Kedarnath temple.

The state's Tourism, Religion and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj on Friday said he has instructed secretary of culture and religious affairs Harichandra Semwal to form a high-level inquiry committee under the chairmanship of the Garhwal commissioner to get to the bottom of the matter. He has asked Semwal to include technical experts as well as goldsmiths in the inquiry committee.

The state government is "extremely sensitive" about the matter. Action will be taken against whoever is found guilty, Maharaj said. He clarified that according to the provisions in the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee Act, 1939, donation was accepted and permission was taken from the state government to gold-plate the sanctum sanctorum of the Kedarnath temple.

The gold plating was done under the supervision of the experts from the Archaeological Survey of India, the minister said, adding a donor had bought the gold and got it inlaid on the walls of the sanctum sanctorum with the temple committee having no direct role in it. After completion of the work, its bill and other papers were submitted by the donor to the temple committee, Maharaj said.

He accused the Opposition parties of trying to disturb the Chardham Yatra by giving "unnecessary" weightage to the matter. Earlier, the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee had in a statement said 23,777.800 grams of gold were used in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Its current value was about Rs 14.38 crore, while the total weight of the copper plates used for the gilded work was 1,001.300 kg of a total value of Rs 29 lakh.

Recently, Teerth Purohit of Kedarnath Temple and Vice President of Chardham Mahapanchayat Santosh Trivedi released a video on social media alleging that instead of gold plating on the walls of the sanctum sanctorum, brass has been used and the scam was of about Rs 1.25 billion.