Uttarakhand's Tirath Singh Rawat To Remove 51 Temples From State Control

The formation of the panel through a legislation had not gone down well with the seers and "teerth-purohits" who felt their traditional rights over the temples had suffered.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Friday reversed his predecessor's decision and decided to remove the management of 51 temples from the control of the Char Dham Devasthanam Board and reconsider its formation. "I have decided to take out of the Devasthanam Board's ambit 51 temples which had been brought under it," Tirath Singh Rawat told reporters after a meeting with seers amid the ongoing Kumbh Mela here. The government will also review the decision to form the Board, he added. Set up during former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's term, the Devasthanam Board was assigned the management of 51 temples of the state, including the four famous Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.