HC halts whitewash

Issues notices to Mansa Devi Shrine Board, two depts

Chandigarh, January 25
After a local lawyer painted a grim picture of heritage being whitewashed at Mata Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered the maintenance of status quo. This meant that the whitewashing project would come to a standstill, at least for the time-being.

The directions by the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice AK Mittal came on a petition filed in public interest by Ranjan Lakhanpal on the basis of news reports on how the heritage was being whitewashed.

Taking up the petition, the Bench also put Shri Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board, the tourism department and the state archaeology department on notice. They were asked to file response on the issue by March 28.

In his petition, Lakhanpal sought directions to stop the whitewash of frescos at the temple and take appropriate action against the officials responsible. Directions were sought for restoring frescos to their original form and preventing their whitewash in the future.

Lakhanpal asserted that age-old paintings depicting Indian culture of yore were being whitewashed and ordinary leaves and flowers painted at the temple, which not only was against the rules of restoration of old and rare works of art, but would also damage those rare paintings of the walls of the shrine.

“It is astonishing to note that even after the whitewash of the frescos was reported in the newspaper, the authorities concerned did not wake up and continued the whitewash,” Lakhanpal asserted.