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ACs in Golden
Temple: HC seeks scientific report
WSN Bureau
CHANDIGARH:
Anguish over installation of air-conditioners in the Golden Temple
found an echo in the
Punjab
and Haryana High Court on Tuesday with petitionerMalkit Singh
Jandiala, a high court lawyer, vigorously espousing the need to
preserve sanctity of theholiest of Sikh shrines. The petitioner’s
counsel Amandeep Kaur Dhiman ferventlypleaded before Chief Justice
Vijender Jain and Justice Mahesh Grover, to stop the SGPC from
installing air-conditioners in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Dhiman quoted various conservationists to assert that
air-conditioners had the potential to wreak havoc on the ancient
frescos, which were an integral a part of the sanctum sanctorum and
thus amounted to sacrilege of sorts.
She also requested the division bench to direct the SGPC to remove
two 4-ton airconditioners, one installed in sanctum sanctorum and
another on the first floor of the temple. “Jathedar Joginder Singh
Vedanti has merely issued a statement that air- conditioners would
not affect the temple in any way without bothering to ponder over
conservationists’ view. This reckless assertion on the part of such
an important person is really unfortunate,” Dhiman argued.
Highlighting the fact that since walls of the
Golden Temple were made of burnt bricks and lime mortar that kept it
cool, she asserted that there was no need to install Acs at all.
Acknowledging the gravity of the situation, the chief justice sought
some scientific reports from the petitioner, which would help
corroborate the theory that air-conditioners could corrode the
temple’s archeological marvels.
The bench also allowed the petitioner’s counsel to find out as to
what steps the SGPC and other respondents had taken to preserve the
structure of the temple and if they were adequate. The petitioner
was also given the liberty to approach the court again armed with
required reports and statements. Conservationists like USbased Sikh
scholar HS Aujla and Gurmeet Rai from GNDU have already cried hoarse
over the colossal “structural damage” that these cooling machines
might cause to the
Golden
Temple. They hammered on the fact that not even a square inch of
plain space could be found on the walls and ceilings to place the
ACs without damaging the original structure and decorations.
Even decorations could be in serious danger owing to changes in the
micro-climatic zones that would be created inside the building as
the doors have to be kept open. The overwhelming view has been that
devotees throng the temple for spiritual relief and not for material
and physical comforts.
23
July, 2008
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