Chandigarh, Feb 26 (PTI) The Haryana Assembly passed a bill on Monday to set up an independent authority for organising the annual Gita Jayanti Mahotsav and for popularising and disseminating teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
According to the Haryana Antarrashtriya Gita Jayanti Mela Authority Bill, 2024, “A large number of devotees and people at large, both from the country and abroad, enthusiastically involve themselves with the local people during the period of Mahotsav. Currently, there is no independent authority/body in the state to organise the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav.” “The state government has felt the necessity for the establishment and constitution of a statutory authority in the state for management, regulation and organising the Antarrashtriya (international) Gita Mahotsav in a proper and cogent manner as well as to provide better facilities to the pilgrims and visitors during the Mahotsav period,” it said.
According to the bill, the main functions of the authority will be to popularise and disseminate the teachings of Srimad Bhagavad Gita as well as organise cultural and educational seminars, workshops, fairs, exhibitions and conferences.
Further, it will provide all the essential facilities to the devotees or pilgrims.
Urban Local Bodies Minister Kamal Gupta moved the bill in the Assembly.
According to the bill, the authority shall consist of members, including the chief minister as its chairperson and the urban local bodies minister as the senior vice-chairperson. There will be one vice chairperson, who will be an eminent and distinguished person, to be nominated by the state government.
B B Batra of the Congress suggested that the speaker and the leader of opposition should be made members of the authority while some MLAs should also be nominated to it.
Geeta Bhukkal of the Congress said that Gita Jayanti festival has been celebrated over the years and the Kurukshetra Development Board has been organising the event.
“I want to know what is the need to have a new authority when KDB is already there,” she said.
Minister Kamal Gupta told the Congress member that since 2016, several programmes, including the main annual event at Kurukshetra, are being held.
“KDB will function as before. But a new authority will specifically take care of how to expand this festival further on global scale and take the message of Bhagavad Gita to the entire world,” he said.
Chief Minister M L Khattar gave examples of separate authorities having been formed to take care of events on a grand scale like Faridabad’s annual Surajkund Mela.
Khattar also said that KDB has its role and that will continue as before. PTI SUN SMN SMN
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