India News | Devotees Can Have 'VIP Darshan' at Chintpurni After Paying Fee; Free Facility for MLAs, MPs, Senior Citizens

Una (HP), Aug 9 (PTI) Devotees can have 'VIP darshan' at Maa Chintpurni temple in Una district after paying a fee of Rs 1,100 for a group of five, the first temple to offer such a facility in Himachal Pradesh.

Devotees who avail the facility don't have to stand in the queue for their turn, officials said on Wednesday.

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No fee will be charged from ministers, MLAs, MPs and other VIPs as well as devotees of 65 years or more and Divyang (differently-abled).

Under the Sugam Darshan Pranali (system), a pass will be given to five people for a fee of Rs 1100 and these devotees would get hassle-free darshan. In total, 500 people will be accommodated every day.

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"Chintpurni temple is the first temple in the state to make such arrangements and the step would avoid chaos created when VIPs come for darshan besides increasing the income of the temple administration," an official said

. The temple commissioner-cum SDM Amb Vivek Mahajan said that there would be four categories. In the first category, a fee of Rs 1100 would get darshan without waiting.

The temple trust will decide on whether children will be included in the category or not, he added.

In the second and third categories, devotees of 65 years or more and Divyang (disabled person) will get VIP darshan without any fee and their co-passenger will have to pay just Rs 50 for the darshan.

The fourth category will be of ministers, MLAs, MPs and VIPs decided by the administration, from whom no fee will be charged.

A waiting hall has been made in Baba Maidas Sadan for the devotees in these categories.

Arrangements have been made for the devotees to sit about one kilometre away from the temple and they would be brought to the lift in an electric golf cart operated by the temple trust and dropped back after darshan. Online booking facility for 'havan' is already available on the temple premises.

Meanwhile, the leader of opposition in state assembly Jai Ram Thakur in a statement issued here on Wednesday termed the move as unfortunate.

He said that keeping a fee for "Darshan of Maa" is incorrect and the government should immediately take back the decision.

"Such a practice is against the traditions of dev Bhoomi Himachal and such VIP culture should be abolished. The government cannot discriminate among devotees," he added. PTI/COR/BPL

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)