By Arfat Khan
JAMMU: Practised as most sacred rituals by Hindus all over globe, the Asthi Visarjan of nearly 260 departed souls in holy Ganga struck in bureaucratic hurdles which left their families in deep anger in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Asthi Visarjan is one of the significant obligatory religious ceremonies in the Hindu religion.
As per established practice, In ‘Asthi Visarjan’, the family members of the departed soul collected the remnant of the cremated body from the ashes and immersed the same in the holy river Ganga as per specific time.
This is the most significant ritual in Hindu religion which needs to be performed by the family of the departed soul within a specific time as per Panchang-the hindu calendar, said one aggrieved person.
Sources disclosed that nearly 260 requests are pending in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu wherein family members are seeking permission for issuance of interstate passes for performing ritual of immersing the ashes of their departed dear ones in the holy river Ganga.
Underlying its significance, one of the aggrieved family told JKGN “This ritual need to be performed as per Panchang.
We cannot keep asthi (ashes) of our departed soul beyond a specific time as, said another aggrieved family.
As per Paanchang, it’s against our belief to keep ashes of departed soul at home beyond June 21, said Ashish.
According to Sanskrit literature as long as the ashes (Asthi) remain in Ganga, the person remains to be happy in worthy place after death for thousand years.
However, nearly 260 families in the state are feeling annoyed over the inordinate delay at the hands of state administration in furnishing them permission for ‘Asthi Visarjan’ of their departed family members.
Crticising the administration for delay, one of the family said ” Asthi Visarjan was never denied to Hindus even during the rule of Aurangzeeb, which has been projected as the cruelest of Mughal Emperor”.
English rulers even facilitated Hindus by developing Haridwar as its place of Asthi Immersion, avers aggrieved family.
“Is this the gift to hindus by current regime and added benefits of scrapping of Articles 370 and 35-A.” said another family in anger.
Insiders in adminstration disclosed “SOP issued by UT Government is silent on granting permission for Haridwar to perform Asthi Visarjan rituals.
“It’s beyondour imagination that why the top officials in UT administration sitting silent on it” added sources.
It is pertinent to mention here that Uttrakhand Government has not imposed any restriction on this old age ritual at Haridwar and perople from all parts of the country are doing the same at Haridwar.
Even Indian Railways is running a number of trains on daily basis from Amritsar, New Delhi and other places to Haridwar so that departed souls can rest in peace.
The importance of the ritual can be gauged from the fact that even Hindus settled in Pakistan were never denied permission by Government of India to visit Haridwar.
Only J&K UT administration is denying permissions to its hindus cituzens to visit Haridwar to perform Asthi Visarjan, alleged Rajinder Gupta.
Aggrieved people urged LG G.C.Murmu to intervene and direct the officials to modify the SOP so that people can perform rituals at Haridwar.
They also urged LG to exempt those visiting Haridwar from institutional quarantine so that they can perform rest of the rituals at their place, once returned from Haridwar.
JKGN made several attempts to contact Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Sanjeev Verma to seek his view on this matter but he couldnot be available.