Dehradun (Uttarakhand): An anti-encroachment drive is on across Uttarakhand to demolish illegal religious places and as part of it the forest department has issued a notice to the Bilkeshwar Dham temple in Haridwar.
All such religious places in Rajaji National Park and Corbett National Park have also been removed and tombs top the list of religious places which have been demolished. The Bilkeshwar Dham temple, located 2 kilometers from Haridwar Railway Station, is associated with the marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati Mata and the temple finds a mention in Skand Puran. There is Gourikund inside the temple premises.
Through the notice, the forest department has asked the temple authorities to furnish papers related to the temple. Temple's Chief Priest Shubham Giri said he has a map from 1912, which shows the temple and the Gourikund. The temple is overseen by Balbir Giri and comes under the Gourikund Niranjani Akadha. The forest department has also issued a similar notice to the ancient Panchmukhi Hanuman temple, which is situated near the railway tunnel. The temple authorities have been given a time of four days to present the related papers. The temple's chief priest Ram Balwant Das claimed that he has 100-year-old papers related to the temple.
Both the notices are issued by Haridwar range forest officer Bipin Dimri and the authorities have pasted the notices on the walls of both these temples. According to officials, the state government has initiated an anti-encroachment drive from April 20 and so far has removed 429 tombs and 42 temples. They have freed 455 hectares of forest land from encroachments.
