The controversy relating to a separate Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) may erupt into a major issue in the coming days, with Shiromani Gurdwara

Parbandhak Committee today stating that it is keeping a close watch on the proposed setting up of makeshift office of HSGPC at Kurukshetra on October 8.

The SGPC is also in a mood to take up the issue with the Centre afresh.

“We are seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and that of President Pratibha Patil on the issue,” said SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, adding that they were keeping a close eye on the developments taking place in the neighbouring state. “We know that it is the Congress that is behind the whole conspiracy to break the SGPC into two, but it must be understood that the consequences of such a move would have far-reaching effects,” warned Makkar.

He said the SGPC would not sit silent if any office for the HSGPC was set up. On the other hand, SGPC member from Kurukshetra, Didar Singh Nalwi, spearheading the movement for the separate body in Haryana, said they were holding their meeting late in the evening today to chalk out their next course of action.

The SGPC also foresees that a separate HSGPC in Haryana will shrink its influence and control over gurdwaras in the region.

Its revenue, collected from “golaks” (donation boxes) put up at shrines, would also come down, affecting the religious body financially.

On the other hand, Haryana’s Sikhs wants the money collected from golaks in gurdwaras in state to be spent on Haryana’s gurdwaras only. Makkar, however, set the record straight and said the SGPC was spending more money on development, education, evangelism than it was drawing from golaks.

Experts, meanwhile, feel that apart from financial losses, the SGPC’s claim of being the only paramount body of the Sikhs will get a major beating with the formation of a separate Sikh body.

Incidentally, the SGPC is also seeking permission from the Centre to allow it to maintain Sikh shrines in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.