Babadham management rolls back hike temporarily

RANCHI: The Deoghar district administration has temporarily rolled back the price hike for special offerings at Baba Baidyanath Dham temple.
Baba Baidyanath Temple Management Board (BBTMB) had announced a hike in charges of special offers at the temple by more than 10 times effective from January 1, 2014. The union of the priests had aggressively opposed the hike.
"The revised charges would be applicable after a week. We decided to temporality roll it back because we did not want to create any issue on the New Year's day," said BBTMB chief executive officer Rahul Purwar. A large number of devotees throng Baba Baidyanath Dham on this day.
The temple management had decided to hike the prices in the wake of the rising prices of essential commodities. They had formally announced the hike and also put up posters in and around the temple for public awareness. The announced charges were not inclusive of the fee that the pandas (priests) working at the temple charge from individual devotees.
Situated 350km from Ranchi, the Dham draws over one crore devotees from all around the country to offer prayers here every year. One of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the most sacred abodes of Lord Shiva, is situated here.
The principal union of the priests at the temple had fiercely opposed the move of the management. "We will go to any length to oppose the move. Most of the people who solemnize marriages and other religious ceremonies at the temple are poor. They cannot afford to pay inflated charges," said Suresh Bharadwaj, president of Panda Dharma Rakshini Sabha, the principal body of the priests at the temple.
"We will approach the highest offices in the state government to get the move of the temple management discarded," he announced.
Purwar, however, said the hiked charges were not implemented on Wednesday because of huge crowds. "It would be implemented on a lean day," he added.
Devotees who want to solemnize any special ritual need to get a coupon from BBTMB. Only when they produce the coupon to the temple management authorities, they are allotted space inside the temple complex to perform the puja.