AMRITSAR; Security personnel deployed in the serai buildings in the Golden Temple complex were withdrawn today, paving the way for handing over full control of the complex to the SGPC,
The pullout of two companies of the Special Reserve Police from Gujarat from Akal Rest House and Guru Ram Das Serai began quietly this morning and was completed by noon.
Forty-odd men of the Punjab Armed Police posing as “sevadars” and posted in the Parkarma are having also been withdrawn. These armed men entered the Parkarma the day Mr, Darshan Singh formally took charge as Jathedar of Akal Takht on August 31.
The total withdrawal of the security men came after a series of discussions between the district authorities and the SGPC which had been insisting that it would resume functioning from the complex only after the security personnel vacated the serai buildings.
The Government had earlier given only partial control of the serai buildings to the SGPC with a rider that security men would stay ‘on the second and third floors of Akal Rest House and Guru Ram Das Serai. The SGPC was allowed to resume functioning from the neighboring Guru Nanak Nivas and Teja Singh Samundari Hall. All these four multistoried buildings falling in a row in the complex had been under control of the Government since Operation Black Thunder in May last.
According to police sources, instructions for vacating the serai buildings occupied by the SRP men came from the Inspector General of Police last night after The had paid a visit to the complex.
Confirming the withdrawal, Mr. Manjit Singh Calcutta, Secretary of the SGPC, told The Tribune that the process was initiated this morning after the authorities had agreed in principle to vacate the complex and hand it over to the SGPC.
Mr. Manjit Singh said the authorities had been told that it would not be possible for the SGPC to function effectively from the complex until the SGPC was given full control of it. “We refused to agree to the retention of security men in the complex,” he asserted.
Significantly the withdrawal came on a day which was set as the “deadline” by the “sacked” Jathcedar of Akal Takht, Mr. Jasbir Singh Rode who had threatened to march to the Golden Temple if the security forces were not withdrawn from the complex by September 30.
Mr. Manjit Singh said the SGPC, which had already started cleaning and repairing rooms in the serai buildings, would shift to its original office shortly.
For the past four months, the SGPC has been operating from Guru Ram Das Hospital on the Circular road. Some furniture and records of the SGPC were shifted to Teja Singh Samundari Hall today.
The entrance to the temple from the Baba Atal shrine side was thrown open to the public.
The SGPC is likely to deploy its Seva Dal (task force) volunteers in the complex within a day or two.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 14, 1988
