Teerth Purohits linked with the Devbhumi Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat wore black armbands and protested at Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in support of their demand for dissolution of the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board.

The priests performed Pooja at Gangotri temple on Friday wearing black armbands and warned of intensifying their protest if the government doesn’t act on their demand.

Gangotri temple committee secretary Deepak Semwal and co-secretary Rajesh Semwal said the state government is misleading the Char Dham temple priests on the issue of the Devasthanam board. He said that if the government does not dissolve the board soon, they will be forced to launch an intense agitation from June 15.

Mahapanchayat spokesman Brijesh Sati said that Teerth Purohits protested at all the Char Dham shrines while their family members also registered their protest.

 In addition to this, protests demanding dissolution of the Devasthanam Board were also held at Joshimath, Maithana, Girgaon, Karnprayag, Devprayag, Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar.

He said that the board has elicited opposition since its formation.

After Tirath Singh Rawat was made the chief minister, he spoke of reconsidering the continuation of the board. Later, after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Margdarshak Mandal meeting, he had said that 51 temples would be brought out of the board’s ambit.

However, a recent statement by the Tourism and Culture minister and the board’s vice chairman Satpal Maharaaz has made the Teerth Purohits step up their protest, said Sati.