Golden Temple sees dip in offerings

Amid the second wave of Covid-19, the SGPC has witnessed a massive dip in the “offerings” from devotees at the Golden Temple. The SGPC had proposed an expected budget of £91.2 million for 2021-22, which is £4 million more than the revenue that the Sikh body expects to make. Prior to Covid in 2019-2020, the average collection of ‘offerings’ at the Golden Temple was Rs 23,00,000 a day. Now, the weekend collection has dipped to between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. The Covid crisis has impacted the online donations, too, that come mainly from NRIs. SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur has appealed to the sangat to contribute generously as there is a sharp decline in income due to Covid restrictions this year too. With the weekend curfew, the footfall of devotees at the Golden Temple was for ‘namesake’, said Golden Temple’s manager Gurinder Singh Mathrewal.