Deotsidh temple canteen shut as ‘parsad’ samples fail quality test

After the samples of the “prasad” being sold at the Baba Balak Nath temple shop in Deotsidh were found unfit for consumption, the temple management on Wednesday closed the shop and said its services will be outsourced.

The main offering and “prasad” at the temple, “rote”, is made of wheat, sugar and ghee or vegetable oil, and is offered to devotees paying obeisance at the Deotsidh temple located at a cave on the hilltop of Chakmoh village in Hamirpur. Around 50-75 lakh people visit the shrine every year.

The main canteen selling the “prasad” was being run by the temple trust since its inception.

Officials said complaints were being received about the quality of the “rote” offered at the Deotsidh temple, following which the food safety department lifted samples from the temple and sent them to a lab in Kandaghat for testing.

“We have closed the canteen of which the samples have failed. We are in the process of outsourcing the canteen and have also started a tender process. The services of the staff deployed at the canteen will be held at other places in the temple,” Barsar sub-divisional magistrate Rajendra Gautam, who is also the chairperson of the Baba Balak Nath temple trust, Deotsidh, said.

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, meanwhile, has sought details of the test results of the “prasad” samples from the temple and asked the Hamirpur district authorities to ensure that quality “rote” is provided to devotees.

The food safety department had sent samples from other shops in the vicinity of the temple for testing as well and the samples of the prasad picked from the canteen were found unfit for consumption.

“Rotes are prepared in bulk and sold over many days. Therefore, they get stale,” according to officials.

Hamirpur deputy commissioner Amarjit Singh has issued directions to the health department to organise camps for all those selling “rote” to create awareness about food safety measures.

The DC has also directed the departments to ensure that the quality of all food items at all hotels, restaurants, dhabas, sweet shops, all other food shops, hostels and canteens of various institutions and mid-day meals is up to the mark. He has issued instructions to take legal action in case any irregularity is found.