SGPC stops ₹3L discretionary fund to its members this year
AMRITSAR: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which has seen a sharp dip in its daily earning due to prolonged lockdown, on Monday decided not to pay its members annual discretionary fund of ₹3 lakh for 2020-21 and discontinue general financial aid given to needy people for three months.
The SGPC has 170 members in its general house and each gets ₹ 3 lakh annually as discretionary fund, which he/she can use for dharam parchar (spread of religion) and helping the needy.
The decision was taken in the SGPC executive committee meeting here. The SGPC also used to extend financial aid to the needy on request, which has now been suspended for three months.
The executive committee also gave approval to setting up of high-powered committee to look into the fiscal crisis and come out with some guidelines. It will comprise SGPC senior vice-president Rajinder Singh Mehta, junior vice-president Gurbaksh Singh, general secretary Harjinder Singh Dhami, chief secretary Roop Singh and academicians. It will submit its report in 10 days.
“This committee will look into the financial matters pertaining to various SGPC departments, including dharam parchar, management of gurdwaras and educational institutes,” said president Gobind Singh Longowal, who chaired the meeting.
However, the panel did not touch the salaries being given to thousands of the SGPC employees. An SGPC official said, “The committee will discuss about it.”
‘WILL TAKE UP EXPRESSWAY PROJECT ISSUE WITH CENTRE’
Taking serious note of the exclusion of Amritsar from the muchhyped Delhi-amritsar-katra Expressway Project, the SGPC executive also passed a resolution condemning the move and decided to raise the concern with the Union government.
“This is unfortunate to exclude ‘Guru Nagari’ from the ₹60,000crore project. It should be executed as per its original alignment. The SGPC will take up the matter with Union home minister Amit Shah and Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari,” said Longowal.