Self-styled godman's unauthorised temple on sacred glacial lake in Uttarakhand demolished
The unauthorised temple came to light in July this year, after locals spotted the structure, which was built using wood and stone, in one of the most eco-sensitive areas in the country. Photos that surfaced on social media suggested that the temple even had a 'swimming pool'.
Authorities in Uttarakhand have demolished an 'illegal' temple built by a self-styled godman on government land at ¡®Devi Kund¡¯, on the Sunderdhunga glacier in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar. The temple was built by Aditya Kailash, who is also known as Baba Yogi Chaitanya Akash, in the eco-sensitive zone in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar at an altitude of 5,000 meters.
CREDIT: BCCL
Unauthorised temple that caused outrage
The unauthorised temple came to light in July this year, after locals spotted the structure, which was built using wood and stone, in one of the most eco-sensitive areas in the country. Photos that surfaced on social media suggested that the temple even had a 'swimming pool'.
Though Baba Yogi Chaitanya Akash had claimed he had received divine instructions to construct the temple, the authorities were not impressed.
Trekked two days for demolition
According to The Times of India, after the structure was found to be an unauthorised construction on government land, a 17-member team of the district administration and police demolished it over the weekend.
CREDIT: BCCL
The team, which started their trek to the Sunderdhunga glacier on Thursday, took two days to reach the top. They found the structure empty and demolished it on the same day.
Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
The Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, which was established in 1982, is situated around the peak of Nanda Devi in the Chamoli Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.
CREDIT: UTTARAKHAND TOURISM
"The Nanda Devi National Park, with its wide range of high-altitude habitats, holds significant populations of flora and fauna including a number of threatened mammals, notably the snow leopard and Himalayan musk deer, as well as a large population of bharal, or blue sheep. Abundance estimates for wild ungulates, galliformes, and carnivores within the Nanda Devi National Park are higher than those in similar protected areas in the western Himalayas," UNESCO noted on its website.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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