LAHORE: Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqal Farooq has said that the supply of sacred water, Ammarkund, in the ponds of Katas Raj temple complex has been restored.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, the ETPB chairman said more plantations will be grown in the vicinity of the temple that will add beauty to the complex.
A large number of Hindu leaders, including Kadwani, Kena Lal, Kashi Ram, Ashok Kumar, and Hindu parliamentarians, including Dewan Chand and Herjan Ahoga, besides officers of different departments, visited the temple along with Farooq.
The visiting dignitaries inspected various portions of the complex and gave suggestions for further improving the temples’ facilities for the Hindu pilgrims.
According Hindu mythology, the pond in the katas Raj was formed from the tears of Shiva, who went uncontrollably over the loss of his wife Sati. The pond, one of the holiest Hindu sites in Pakistan, had dried out because of excessive water consumption by the nearby cement factories. The factories had sucked water through more than a hundred drill bores, thus severely reducing the subsoil water level.
Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken a suo motu notice of the issue and called for reports from the director general of the Federal Department of Archaeology and Museums, the secretary of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), the director general of the Punjab Directorate of Archaeology, and the Chakwal’s deputy commissioner.
The Katas Raj temple complex is located near Kallar Kahar, approximately 100 kilometres by road from another important Hindu site, the Tilla Jogian complex.
