CRPF to vacate Shiva temple: Karan Singh

The ancient Shiva temple at Gupt Ganga on the banks of the Dal Lake here will be vacated by CRPF and renovated to make it a tourist attraction, a senior Congress leader has said.
Member of Parliament and veteran Congress leader Karan Singh visited the temple, which is being used by CRPF as transport headquarters, yesterday and interacted with the management, an official spokesman said today.
The temple trust has already asked the CRPF to vacate the property and thereafter, the 'Kund' will be cleaned up and the temple renovated to make it a tourist attraction, the spokesman said quoting the Congress leader.

The spokesman said Singh urged the Centre and the state government to take urgent steps to check pollution of the Dal Lake - a star attraction for the tourists visiting the Valley and an essential part of the Kashmir eco system.
Singh also paid obeisance at the famous shrine of Kheer Bhawani, 25 kms from here, in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir and met officials and members of public to know the arrangements made in connection with the annual mela scheduled to be celebrated on June 17, he said.
The Kheer Bhawani mela has over the years become a source of reunion for Kashmiri Pandits following their mass exodus from the Valley in the wake of eruption of militancy in early 1990. It also serves as a reminder of communal harmony between Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus as the former make almost all the arrangements for the latter's stay at the place of worship.

Accompanied by MLC Vijay Bakaya, Singh went round the Kheer Bhawani complex and enquired about the status of Sewerage Treatment Plant for which the union Ministry of Tourism has already spent Rs 80 lakh.
Singh said he would take up the matter of payment of the balance amount with the Centre as soon as he returns back to Delhi.
"The Congress leader was glad to see that the whole premises of the Mata Kheer Bhawani shrine was well maintained," the spokesman added.