Row over Sangath Trust in Vizag Gurudwara

Visakhapatnam: The rivalry between two groups over the management of the Gurudwara Sadh Sangath (Sadh Sangat Trust) at Seethammadhara in the city seems to have disturbed the peace and tranquility at the Trust.

On Sunday, around 10 members of one group allegedly tried to take over the properties of the trust into their possession with forged documents and they entered into the trust and broke open four locks of the Gurudwara and pasted notices inside the trust claiming that they were the registered executive body of the trust. With the rivalry of the two groups touching its peak level, city police have entered into the trust to maintain law and order.

Talking to newsmen at the trust here on Sunday, spokesman of the trust, Satinder Singh Sethi said that their rival group damaged the CCTV camera at the trust and they are trying to occupy the properties of the trust illegally. He appealed to the cops to ensure maintenance of peace and tranquility at the holy place after lodging a police complaint.

Mr Sethi, former secretary of the trust, said that the Gurudwara land was registered in the name of the trust in 1981.  In 2004, Balvinder Singh was appointed its secretary and he has been continuing without elections ever since and indulged in several irregularities, including misuse of the revenue of the trust.

“Fed up with Balvinder Singh and his team, we approached the cops in 2014 and they booked a case under Section 143. An Interim Committee was formed recently and I was made interim secretary,” Mr sethi added.

“Though we are putting our best efforts to regulate the affair of the trust, Balvinder Singh and his team have been creating problems and hadn’t submitted the accounts for the 10 years,”  Mr Sethi pointed out. The Gurudwara Sadh Sangat has two properties in Vizag city, one at Seethammadhara and the other at Suryabaugh.

However, Balvinder Singh has floated a new society in May 2015 and he misled the District Registrar  to claim the properties to be belonging to the new trust by manipulating the accounts, he added.

Balvinder Singh, along withVikram Singh Mann has been collecting rents from the tenants of the shops located on the building of the Gurudwara Sadh Sangath despite interim committee is in its possession. “We will approach commissioner of police Amit Garg requesting him to take action against Balvinder Singh along with his team for trying to grab the land,” Mr Sethi added.