After the December communal riots in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh in which five muslims were killed and several injured over a, Archaeological Survey of India survey of Jama Masjid which discovered Hindu temple remnants, the executive officer of the Municipal Corporation has said on Wednesday that they will revive the temple as soon as possible.
Dr Manibhushan Tiwari announced an initiative to restore wells and pilgrimage sites in the city to reconnect people with their religious traditions.
This comes after a temple was rediscovered during an anti-encroachment campaign by the district police and administration on December 14 in Sambhal. The Shiv-Hanuman temple had been closed since 1978.
On December 22, a team from the ASI uncovered an age-old stepwell in Chandausi, Sambhal. The discovery came after the reopening of the Shiv-Hanuman temple, which had been closed for 46 years.
During the excavation work in the Ladam Sarai area of Sambhal An old well was also discovered by the local administration on Wednesday, Tiwari said that the restoration process involves digging and renovating wells, as well as reviving pilgrimage sites. The Municipal Council plans to invest funds, potentially with the help of the Vandhan Yojana and the Tourism Department, to give these sites a new look.
“On the initiative of the District Magistrate, we are continuously digging all the wells in the city and pilgrimage sites to restore them…In the same sequence, we have also made a plan to restore the wells we are finding. Whatever pilgrimage sites we are finding, we are going to work on their revival. With the help of Vandhan Yojana and the Tourism Department, we will invest money in it and give it a new look so that we can reconnect people with our religious traditions.,” he said.
He said that the administration also planning to beautify the Parikrama path in the region to strengthen religious tradition.
“We are also planning to beautify it, we are making a Parikrama path around it, we are making a gate there, we are marking the importance of the well on the gate itself so that we can strengthen our religious traditions,” he added.
Meanwhile, the newly reopened Kartikeshwar Mahadev temple in Sambhal district witnessed its morning aarti on Wednesday, drawing devotees from across the country.
Priest Shashikant Shukla, who led the aarti, shared that people from various regions, including Banaras, Delhi, Vrindavan, and Muzaffarpur, have been visiting the temple to offer prayers and seek blessings.
“People are coming from far-off places, such as Banaras, Delhi, Vrindavan, and Muzaffarpur. Yesterday, people from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Vrindavan came here to do Hari Kirtan. It was a great experience,” the Priest said.
Shukla also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for enabling the reopening of the temple, saying, “I’m deeply grateful to PM Modi and CM Yogi, as they enabled our Hindu community’s worship and facilitated the reopening of this temple for darshan.”
