A few days ago, a peculiar incident occurred in Kurhara village in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district. Ram Janki Temple’s priest and caretaker Mahant Ramkumar Das wanted to sell 100 quintals of wheat crops produced on the temple land in the mandi (market). But when he arrived there, the officials asked him for an unusual document.
As per a report in Times Now, the SDM (sub-divisional magistrate) Saurabh Shukla told the priest to produce the Aadhaar card of the deity in whose name the temple’s land was registered. The 7-hectare temple land is registered in the name of Lord Ram and Janki.
The priest recalled, “He told me the registration cannot be done without Aadhaar and that is why it has been canceled by his office. The registration was canceled as I could not produce the Aadhaar card, where do I get Aadhaar of the Lord?”
He added that he sold 150 quintals of produce at the government mandi last year, and several years before that as well. But it is for the first time that he is allegedly facing a problem like this.
In response, the SDM stated that the priest was only explained the process, and not asked to produce the Aadhaar card of the deity. He said, “The policy has been decided at the government level and purchase was being done on the basis of that policy.”
Govind Upadhyaya, who is the district supply officer, added that the rules are clear that the wheat could not be purchased by the mandi officials without the Aadhaar card of the person in whose name the land is registered, in this case, ‘God’.
The priest then stated, “How are we to meet the expenses and get our food if we cannot sell the crops in the mandi?” Allegedly, he was left with no option but to sell the crops at a throwaway price to the commission agents.
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