Milk offered to Lord Shiva a ‘poisonous treat’ for street children
GORAKHPUR: It’s noon and like all Shiv temples in the city, Mukteshwara temple is teeming with devotees queuing up to offer milk to the deity in the holy month of Sawan. A small distance away, an equally eager line — this one of street urchins — is neatly forming under the sweltering sun.
Among them is 10-year-old Sudha waiting in anticipation for a treat outside a small outlet emerging from the temple.
In no time, a trickle of pinkish liquid materialises and Sudha and her friends immediately collect it in their small pots and gulp it down in an instant.
It is the same milk, which the devotees had offered to the Shivling moments ago.
What Sudha doesn’t know is that the milk, which she is consuming to attain nutrition, can make her extremely sick.
In an investigation, HT collected samples from different Shiva temples in the city and sent them to a co-operative dairy to check for adulteration. The result was baffling.
The samples were found to have milk content, measured through corrected lactometer reading, ranging from just 10% to 50%. And that is not the only thing wrong with it.
“The milk offered to Lord Shiva invariably gets mixed with vermillion, sandal paste, dhatura, bhang and other puja materials — some of these are toxic. Vermillion, for example, is mercuric oxide, which is a toxic substance. Same goes for dhatura. Bhang is a known intoxicant. The children are at grave risk, indeed,” says Dr RP Singh of Gorakhnath area.
Often the passage through which the milk travels from the lingam inside the sanctum sanctorum to the outlet is crusted with algae and bacteria.
Milk adulteration is illegal and provisions in the Food Safety Act, 2006 mandate a fine up to Rs 5 lakh.
District food safety officer RC Pandey says, “If it is found to have lethal or poisonous chemicals, the fine increases up to Rs 10 lakh and the culprits can expect to receive prison sentences ranging from three months to lifers.”
Needless to say, the law seems to have little impact on those in the business of contamination.
To make the most of the heavy Sawan footfall, rows of vendors selling milk and other offerings have gathered up outside the Gorakhnath temple, Mukteshwara temple, Jharkhandi temple and Gopal temple among others. Most of this milk is adulterated and sold at ridiculously high prices.
“Lord Shiva will not be happy with the conduct of these unscrupulous vendors. Bhole Baba is satisfied with a ‘lota ’- full of water and the usual ‘bel-patra’.
In fact the devotees would do well to offer pure milk to these poor children directly. Baba would be much happier,” says Pandit Ravindra Tripathi of the Mahadeo Jharkhandi temple.