The Chief Minister announced increase of five percent Nazrana (presentation amount) to the deities and a sum of Rs. 10,000 to the Bajantaris, who accompany the local deities participating in the festival. He said that the government would also consider to provide assistance for those coming for Dussehra festival with local deities from far-flung areas and going back.
Addressing the huge gathering, the Chief Minister said that few people were of the opinion that Kullu Dussehra won't go well due to certain reasons well known to all but the Dussehra was conducted in the very traditional manner as it used to be. He said that circumstances were being made such that the Dussehra festival might not be successful and many conspiracies were made.
He said that one should not bring in politics in regional and religious traditions and festivals, adding that no one should believe that he or she was the owner of the temples. The ancient temples were not the individual property of anyone, though one could be the trustee or care taker of such temples.
He said that similarly the Raghunath temple at Kullu also could not be property of an individual. Citing example of Sarahan Bhimakali Mata temple, he said that this temple at Sarahan was also formed as a trust and he was also one of the members and many other temples of the region were also under the Bhimakali trust which were being well funded and looked after.
He said that Deputy Commissioner, Kullu received a letter recently in which a person had claimed himself as the proprietor of the Raghunath temple. This clearly indicates that whosoever had written such a letter, earlier used to claim himself as Kardar but now the letter had clarified all facts that the one who had written such a letter was claiming himself to be the proprietor.
" No one can be the proprietor of the public temples in which people of Kullu valley have unflinching faith and the temples were of the people and will ever so in coming times", said Virbhadra Singh. He said people or Kardars will come and go but the temples would exist for ever and the government wanted that the ancient temples of the State were well preserved and looked after.
He said that the government did not want to become the proprietor of the Raghunath temple but there should be proper upkeep of the temples and the funds so generated by the formation of Trust be used for developing the temples.
The Chief Minister said that the life of people of the State revolves around its local deities and they were part of every household. We need to preserve the customs and culture as our identity exists because of our traditions and culture
and added that he had seen civilisation crumbling which had not kept their culture alive.
He also released the Kullu Dussehra souvenir on the occasion and distributed laptops to the meritorious students under the 'Rajeev Gandhi Digital Yojna' besides other prizes.
Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the additional block of Government Degree college Kullu on which a sum of Rs. 4.10 crore was incurred. He also inaugurated District Disability and Rehabilitation Centre at Kullu. He also honoured the mothers of newly born girl child under the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padao' campaign.
Health and Revenue Minister, Kaul Singh Thakur, while speaking on the occasion said that the Congress Party believes in equitable development. The Minister said that 1120 Patwaris had been selected for training besides 778 posts of Patwaris were filled earlier. He said that soon dialysis facility would be available in regional hospital Kullu and the people would not have to go to Mandi or out of district for dialysis. He said that the opposition should involve itself in healthy criticism and should compare the development done in their and the present Congress regime.
Earlier, Ayurveda and Co-operative Minister Karan Singh thanked the Chief Minister for dedicating various development projects on his two days visit to Kullu. The Minister said that such festivals should be kept away from local politics and all should unite together to make the festival a success. He said that the opposition should open its eyes to see the overall development and not to criticise just for sake of criticism.
General Secretary, HPCC, Sunder Singh Thakur also spoke on the occasion.
MLA Lahaul-Spiti and Vice-Chairman National Commission for Schedule Tribe, GoI, Ravi Thakur, Chairman Wool-Federation, Raghuvir Thakur, Chairman Zila Parishad, Kullu, Harichand Sharma, DCC President,
Bhudi Singh Thakur, Chairman APMC, Kullu and Lahaul, Upendrakant Mishra, Chairperson District Mahila Congress, Vidya Negi, BCC President, Kullu, Uttam Chand Sharma, BCC President, Manali, Bhuneshwar Gaud, OSD to Chief Minister, Amit Pal, Deputy Commissioner, Yunus Khan, SP, Padam Chand were also present on the occasion amongst senior officers of the district.
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