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More pilgrims are visiting shrines, therefore income is going down
Golden Temple Golak yields far less, but the kheer dish verbally ordered by Jagir Kaur jacks up expenditure by Rs 80 lakh

S P Singh

A devout bows before the holy Guru Granth Sahib, kneels, and before saying his little prayer within, humbly places his little offering in the locked 'golak' often positioned before the scripture. Some specifically deposit slightly larger sums, often ranging from Rs 5 upwards, at a counter where a receipt is duly issued. Donations pour in all sizes, and not always in cash. All of these, including the money from the golak, go towards maintenance of shrines, keeping afloat the SGPC and spreading the guru’s word through Dharam Parchar.

Naturally, the sangat expects those managing the hard earned money would be doing so extremely prudently since it is an onerous responsibility, given the fact that a sensitive issue like people’s faith is involved. 

The SGPC manages 49 gurudwaras in Punjab and Haryana falling under section 85 of the Sikh Gurudwara Act, 1925. This year’s budget for these gurudwaras, which forms part of the SGPC’s budget, had led to some bitter criticism by opponents of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s ruling Akali Dal. Were the anomalies pointed out by critics merely prompted by vested political interests or is there a ring of truth to them?  

Every time there is an onrush of sangat to a gurudwara, both income and expenditure are bound to rise; at least that is what common logic dictates. But situation at the Golden Temple, Amritsar seems to be different. The income from golak, called 'Charrat', came down by Rs 30 lakh than the expected figure while 'langar' expenses rose by Rs 80 lakh. 

The SGPC, in an attempt to explain away the sudden hike in expenditure, said the serving of 'kheer' (pudding) and an extra vegetable dish on "verbal orders" of president Jagir Kaur, was responsible for the hike. 

Executive committee members of the SGPC contacted by The Indian Express said such a big sum cannot be spent on anyone's verbal orders and the interim committee of the premier Sikh shrine management panel was never taken into confidence beforehand. 

"We are given the copies of the budget merely a day before the meeting? How can you expect us to go looking for anomalies? And where was the pressing need to order 'kheer' servings without taking sanction for this major expenditure item?" asked Harbans Singh Manjhpur, executive member. 

Similar anomalies are galore in budgets of many gurudwaras.  In gurdwara Nankiana Sahib, Sangrur, the golak income remained static while langar expenditure rose by Rs two lakh. The explanation offered by SGPC was that expenditure has risen due to "increased inflow" of pilgrims but many SGPC members have said if the pilgrims' traffic had indeed increased, how come golak income did not rise? 

At Gurudwara Chheratta Sahib, the income of Rs 47 lakh from golak was Rs two lakh less than expected while langar expense pegged at Rs 17 lakh in the budget for last fiscal year shot up to Rs 24.78 lakh. Again the reason proffered by the budget makers was "increased sangat traffic", which apparently led to, surprisingly, an income loss. 

Budget of a gurudwara at Baba Bakala for last fiscal year had expected its income from 'Karah Parsad' at Rs 39 lakh while expenditure was pegged at Rs 26 lakh. But, it later turned out, that while the income was Rs one lakh more than the mark, the expenditure rose by Rs seven lakh! 

In fact, the economics of Karah Prasad has another angle to it. Experts in gurudwara management say normally the expenditure is normally pegged at around 50 per cent of the income under this head. Even in this year, the ratio at Gurudwara Bir baba Budha Ji is 48.8 per cent, Gurudwara Baoli Sahib Goindwal 42.5 per cent and at Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran, it is 53.3 per cent. But at Baba Bakala, it is 82.7 per cent. "It is clear that some embezzlement is happening at the Gurudwara and there should be a proper probe into it," demanded Manjhpur. 

In fact, three opposition members of the SGPC – Manjhpur, Jagdhir Singh Katron and Gurbaksh Singh Purrain – have strongly opposed passage of the budget citing some of these and many other anomalies but the SGPC, packed with loyalists of Badal, brushed aside all objections.  

Sources in the panel, however, said many of Bibi Jagir Kaur’s detractors within the ruling Akali Dal are now pointing out such glaring holes in management of the sangat's money in a bid to stall another term for the woman who hit media headlines after replacing G S Tohra, becoming in the process the first woman to head the powerful religious body.   

The SGPC’s move to allocate Rs 2.5 crore as aid to a medical college and its cancer unit from the 'galiara' (Corridor) fund, as depicted in the budget for the current financial year, has also received flak. A number of SGPC members, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the SGPC cannot use the corridor funds for any aid of this kind "since money earned from sale of property can only be used to buy real estate and only interest earned on it can be used for other purposes under section 113 (2) of the Sikh Gurudwara Act."

The religious body's love for spending on cars is by now fairly well known. The budget for Darbar Sahib, Amritsar had a provision for spending Rs 15 lakh on cars in last financial year, compared to around Rs 13 lakh in earlier years. However, not only did the expenditure overshot by Rs five lakh, the SGPC even provided Rs 25 lakh for the current fiscal year, and by all available accounts, even this would be surpassed by the time the year comes to a close. 

Under sections 107 and 108 of the Sikh Gurudwara Act, the shrines covered under section 85 give 25 per cent of their income to the SGPC as 'Daswandh' and 'dharam parchar fund'. Besides, another 13.5 per cent is given under 'Gurbani and literature fund', education fund, Sikh history fund, panthic welfare fund and other heads. Thus, the gurudwaras are under obligation to give 38.5 per cent of their income to the SGPC but the religious body has this year taken nearly 54 per cent of their income. 

"A number of gurudwaras are running into a loss. But the SGPC is hell bent on making shrines bankrupt," said Manjhpur. 

Incidentally, gurudwara at Naddha Sahib, Panchkula has not been able to return debt of lakhs of rupees availed from Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. Shrine at Sultanpur Lodhi, Jind and Goindwal Sahib owe lakhs to the SGPC which they have not been able to pay off in years. But that has not prevented the SGPC to enrich its coffers by siphoning off more from these shrines than provided for under the Act. 

Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, senior leader of the G S Tohra-led All India Shiromani Akali Dal, when asked why they were not raising their voice against these anomalies, said any exposure would hurt the sangat's faith in the guru-ghar. But how will the sangat's faith be strengthened by not exposing mismanagement beats any logic.■

September, 2000

See Also:
SGPC goes tortoise in nine months, hare in last three

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