Amritsar, October 7 – SGPC would directly indulge in business by selling Rumalas to Sikh devotees for offering it the Golden Temple and other Sikh shrines.
Dhami said that in Sri Harmandar Sahib and other historical Gurdwaras, a large number of Rumalas (sacred cloth for covering Guru Granth Sahib) are offered by the Sangat (community + devotees) as reverence and respect, now to be sold directly to buyer to further offer in the Gurdwara.
Reason behind directly jumping into to sell Rumalas by setting up counters by SGP, Dhami cited poor quality and standard of the Rumalas are not good. And also, there is a big problem in safekeeping due to the abundance of Rumalas. In view of this, after discussion, it has been decided that special counters will be set up inside the Gurdwaras, where the Sangat will be able to deposit offerings for Rumalas as per their will. He appealed to the Sangat to get a receipt by depositing offerings for Rumalas as per their devotion at the counters being set up and show the receipt inside the Guru’s Darbar (sanctum sanctorum) for Ardas (Sikh prayers) offering. He said that the offering for Rumalas will be used for the bright future of the community.
However, dozens of showrooms around the Golden Temple were in the Rumala selling business for the last five to six decades even big and small shops were also there. It is a business of lakhs of rupees per day. If SGPC directly jumped into this business, nevertheless to say dozens of shopkeepers would be rendered jobless or may be thrown out of business.
Meanwhile, SGPC has also passed a resolution to impose a complete ban on the online sale of Gutka Sahib and Pothis (holy scripture) of Gurbani on various e-commerce websites and Apps. Advocate Dhami said that this matter is very serious, because it pertains to the dignity and respect of Gurbani. He said that in the resolution passed today, the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib has been appealed to issue guidelines to the community in this regard after the meeting of five Singhs (Jathedars), so that this phenomenon can be stopped.
