London, December 1, 2004
PTI
A Non-Resident Indian entrepreneur on Wednesday offered to pay for
the "restoration" of the 300-year-old door at the Golden Temple
and opposed any move to replace it.
"The door, known as Darshani Deori at the main entrance to the
sanctum sanctorum, has a historic significance and I am prepared to
pay for its conservation and restoration," said Dr Kartar Singh
Lalvani.
73-Year-old Lalvani, founder chairman of Vitabiotics, Britain's first
specialist vitamin supplement company, who is also interested in the
preservation of artefacts, said the door was originally part of the
historic Somnath Temple in Gujarat before it was plundered by raiders
from Afghanistan.
Lalvani, winner of the Asian of the Year Award last year, said it was
Maharaja Ranjit Singh who secured the door from the then ruler of Afghanistan
Shah Zaman as part of a treaty after he defeated the marauders from
Kabul. The door first offered to Somnath Temple but it was turned down.
A report quoted to SGPC executive member Kiranjot Kaur said the committee
had recently decided to replace the door because its condition has deteriorated
over the years.
The work was to be entrusted to the Birmingham-based Sikh Missionary
Organisation Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewa Jatha and plans had already been
drawn up to import special timber from Africa.
However, everything came to a grinding halt after leading conservation
experts began questioning the wisdom of the SGPC's decision.
Lalvani, who supports many art events and foundations such as the local
community theatre 'Open For All', concurred with Gurmit Rai, a leading
expert on conservation of historical monuments, that the Darshani Deori
was of great historical importance and efforts must first be directed
at ascertaining whether it was possible to restore it.
Experts feel there is a greater need to conserve elements of Sikh history
today, when the Golden Temple is being considered by the UNESCO as a
possible world heritage site.