KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 24
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari today inaugurated the golden jalahari installation ceremony after completing a week-long Kshema Puja.
The inauguration, however, was held just a few hours before the Supreme Court issued interim order against it. A single bench of Justice Purushottam Bhandari had issued the order in response to a writ petition filed by advocate Nikita Dhungana and provincial lawmaker Narottam Baidhya.
Some heritage experts and rights activists have been protesting against the government's decision to install 108 kilograms of gold on the base of the sacred Shiva Linga inside the Pashupatinath temple.
The petitioner cited that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had pledged 300 million rupees for installing the golden jalahari on January 25, a month after dissolving the House of Representatives.
Following PM Oli's announcement, the minister of culture had provided the amount within a few days.
However, activists viewed the act as a political stunt to woo the majority of Hindu people in the secular country. They had also claimed that the government's decision to place such a huge amount of gold inside the heritage site was against the Ancient Monument Protection Act, 1956.
Pashupati is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
In this regard, a single bench of Justice Purushottam Bhandari issued interim order against the government and other authorities to not proceed with the work until March 1 and submit clarification for the project to the court.
Meanwhile, the PADT said the inauguration ceremony was organised today after the golden jalahari was installed last night. Bhola Prasad Sitaula, Secretary of PADT said, "We had summoned the president after installing the golden jalahari and completing Kshema Puja." However, Baidhya who had filed the case at the court refuted Sitaula's claim saying there was no golden jalahari at the temple. "I just saw with my own eyes that there was no golden jalhari at the temple.
The PADT intends to confuse people so that it could install the golden jalahari defying the SC's decision."
Other officials of PADT also confirmed to THT that the jalahari was not placed as claimed by PADT.
Apart from 300 million rupees from the government, the PADT has spent an additional Rs 200 million to install the jalahari.
Moreover, it has also planned to spend 300 million rupees to gold-plate the two-storey roof of Pashupati temple and Basaha, an ox, as well as the idol of lord Shiva, which is outside the temple.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 25, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
