The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to set up a printing press unit at Tracy in California to publish holy “saroops” (scriptures) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Additionally, a religious preaching centre will be set up in Yuba City, USA, on a land donated by the late Didar Singh Bains – one of the most prominent Sikhs abroad, known as ‘Peach King’ for being the largest peach farmer in California.
These announcements were made in an executive committee (EC) meeting of SGPC held here on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami said the printing press unit will be set up in Tracy to publish the “saroops” of Sri Guru Granth Sahib to provide those in accordance with a demand from the Sikh community in the US and Canada.
Dhami said following a demand from the “sangat” in Australia, the SGPC will ship 220 “saroops” in accordance with the “maryada” (Sikh code of conduct).
The SGPC chief said the Sri Guru Ramdas library situated within the Golden Temple in Amritsar will be digitised and a separate website of the library will be created where the titles and indices of important books will be published. The purpose is to familiarise researchers with the literary treasures in the library, he added.
The library was established in 1927 and has a large number of important books.
Dhami also condemned an incident of heated exchanges between some of the office-bearers of the ad-hoc panel of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) which took place during a meeting held in a hall of the Panjokhra Sahib gurdwara on August 14.
The SGPC president also criticised the decision to print voter forms in Hindi by the Haryana government for gurdwara elections.
Despite being the second language in Haryana, Punjabi is not being given due respect, he alleged, adding that the printing of the forms in Hindi for the HSGMC polls is an example of this discrimination.
The Haryana government has started the process of registering Sikh voters from September 1 for the gurdwara committee polls.
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The SGPC also aims to make the heritage street to Harmandir Sahib clean and green, and will seek support from Baba Kashmir Singh Bhuri Wale and Padma Shri Baba Sewa Singh Khadur Sahib, a statement said.
The executive committee also announced that portraits of Giani Jagtar Singh and Sikh historian Swaran Singh Chuslewarh will be installed at the Central Sikh Museum. A 21-year-old Sikh youth, Kunwar Amritbir Singh, will be honoured for breaking a world record by doing 86 push-ups on fingers in one minute. The EC also approved a 4 per cent dearness allowance for SGPC employees, the statement added.
“On scheduled arrival of President of France Emmanuel Macron to India during the G20 Summit in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is requested to take up the long-pending issue of allowing to wear Sikh turban in public schools in France,” said SGPC general secretary Bhai Gurcharan Singh Grewal.
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