SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Jan.3: Jharkhand Tourism Secretary Manoj Kumar today said that there has been no connect between the solution to the problems explained to us by the Jain community, which has been protesting a three years’ old notification declaring the Sammed Sikharji as a tourist spot in Giridih.
“We are ready to add a term “religious place” in the said notification, but they are insisting on scrapping the 2019 notification.” he told Lagatar24.com.
“They have complained about sale and consumption of meat and liquor besides other objectionable goods on the Parasnath hills which hurt their religious sentiments. How will it solve their problem if we cancel the notification and declare it as a religious place? Kumar asked.
The Jains say that 20 of their 24 Tirthankars (saviours and spiritual teachers) had attained Mahanirvana (salvation) on the Parasnath Hills, referred to as Sammed Shikharji.
The community believes that converting the place into a tourist spot would make it difficult to maintain the sanctity of the place or the ban on non-vegetarian food there.
The tourism secretary said that the word tourism has a vast connotation. “Parasnath has been declared a tourist place because of its religious importance. For example, the Rajasthan government promotes heritage tourism; several hospitals are promoting medical tourism. The UP and Uttarakhand governments are promoting religious tourism,” he pointed out.
“We have also contacted the Uttarakhand government and found that while Kedarnath temple is run by Mahants, there is a separate act to regulate the activities of the nearby areas,” he pointed out.
“In fact, they (Jains) have not given any example of a place notified as a religious pilgrimage place in the country and how it is regulated. They only insisted on scrapping the notification when a delegation led by Rakesh Jain met us last month,” he pointed out.
Notably, if we go by definition, religious tourism is a type of tourism, where a tourist, has a spiritual attachment to the deity/ destination in line with their religious beliefs. On the other hand, Cultural tourism is a type of tourism in which travellers engage in a tour to explore the history of people, architecture, temples and religious cultures in different regions.
“The basic problem so far we understand is enforcing the rules and regulations and ensuring that the people visiting there should follow the protocol enunciated by the Jain community,” he said.
“And it was for this purpose, a separate authority with Deputy Commissioner as MD and Tourism Secretary as Chairman had been formed under the State Tourism Act 2015 to frame the rules and enforce them keeping in view the religious sentiments of the Jain community. We have activated the authority and nominated six members from the Jain samaj as members. We have asked to hold a meeting and pass the resolution to keep the religious sanctity intact and enforce them with all strictness. And it is the right way to allay the fears of the Jain community,” he said.
Kumar said that there are two objectives behind declaring it a tourist place. “First, we can frame rules and enforce them and second, we can allocate funds in the budget for it,” he added.
“The Jains say that they don’t need money to develop the spot. But the main issue is enforcement of rules and developing a mechanism for it. And for that matter, we need to have a legally empowered body. If we don’t have any legal authority to enforce the Jain protocols by the visitors, it will open a conflict between communities,” he feared.
“Moreover, the Parasnath hills where Sammed Shikharji has been located has already been declared a wildlife sanctuary where we cannot construct any hotel, resorts and allow any industrial activity. We are not getting clearance even for small work. For example, we wanted to install solar light and construct the Vandana path but we did not get the environmental clearance,” he pointed out.
“The present authority has been constituted through a cabinet decision. We can at best have a separate Act for it as we did in the case of Baba Baidyanath dham temple to make it stronger. We are open to such a solution. However, we are waiting for instruction from the higher authority and act accordingly,” he signed off.
