Is Golden Temple Galiara is a centre of drug addicts? Police says no information

Amritsar, July 12: The Golden Temple, Sri Harimandir Sahib is not only a central religious place of the Sikhs, but also a symbol of human brotherhood and equality.

The outer corridor (called the galiara) of the Golden Temple, an important area from a security point of view, has become a haven for drug addicts as reported by The Indian Express.

Local residents claim the addicts are responsible for many crimes in the area. Although many authorities have acknowledged the problem, the police say they will consider action only if someone approached it with a complaint.

According to the Indian Express report, over 1 km long galiara is a park that surrounds the Golden Temple complex. It is a buffer zone that came up after Operation Bluestar and is controlled by Amritsar Development Authority.

“Drug addicts can be found in galiara during anytime of the day,” said Manmohan Singh Titu, local SAD councillor. “They basically live here, while living off the food from the Golden Temple and stealing from the shrine’s devotees and residents living here to buy drugs.”

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandak Committee (SGPC) had earlier tried to free the galiara from addicts but were in vain.

“My friends reported that their motorcycles were stolen when the left it outside galiara,” continued Titu. “They are a threat to children and women.”

He accused the local police of doing nothing to secure the area. “It is not possible for addicts to stay inside the galiara without help from the local police.

We had raised this matter with cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia in 2015,” he said. “He immediately ordered the transfer of all 16 officials deployed at the galiara police post.

But now, six of them have returned and the galiara is as unsafe as it was.”

“You can check the record of galiara police post. They will never registered a theft case whenever anyone reports it. Instead, they will register report of “missing belongings” instead of theft,” says the report.

“We had also raised this issue with Amritsar Development Authority but they didn’t respond.”

Sanjay Joshi, coordinator of Nanhi Chann Foundation, which maintains the galiara admitted to the menace. “But it is not in our capacity to remove the addicts.

It is a law and order problem and that is the police’s domain.”

Amaritsar Development Authority XEN Surjit Singh also said they were helpless in the matter. “If we attempt to move them, these addicts may attack our workers.

We cannot risk our workers’ safety.”

Golden Temple manager Sulakhan Singh said, “I took charge recently.

We used to identify such elements and remove them. We had also sent our men to remove these addicts from Galiara. We will again request to police for the same.”

When contacted, Police Commissioner Amritsar Amar Singh Chahal said that he had no first hand information about the problem. “I have joined recently.

I will look into it if someone approaches us with a complaint,” he said.