Ahead of polls, Uttarakhand govt frees temple of govt control

Ahead of the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, the BJP government in the state has freed state's temples from government control.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday announced the scrapping of the Chardham Devasthanam Board Act that regulated temple affairs in the state.

Chardham priests had been demanding scrapping of the board ever since its creation in 2019. The priest were protesting against the act saying it was an infringement of their traditional rights over the temples.

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Dhami had constituted a high-level committee to look into the Devasthanam Board issue had submitted its recommendations to the chief minister in Rishikesh on Sunday.

Constituted during the tenure of former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chardham Devasthanam Board managed the affairs of 51 temples across the state, including the important temples of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamnotri.