Sadhus participate in a procession taken out on the Ram Path on the eve of the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir, in Ayodhya. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
A controversy has erupted over lights allegedly stolen from prominent places in Ayodhya after the contractor responsible for installing them alleged that around 3,800 bamboo lights and 36 ‘gobo projector’ lights placed at Ram Path and Bhakti Path were missing. While refuting reports that lights worth ₹50 lakh had been stolen, the Commissioner of Ayodhya, Gaurav Dayal, said the matter was being investigated.
Shekhar Sharma, the contractor charged with installing the lights by the Ayodhya Development Authority for the new Ram Mandir’s consecration ceremony on January 22 this year, filed the complaint via the Uttar Pradesh Police app. The complaint says the lights went missing in May. Mr. Sharma claims that his firm had installed 6,400 bamboo lights and 96 gobo projector lights on both sides of Ram Path and Bhakti Path, but he had found over half of them missing during an inspection.
The complainant also claimed that all the lights had been in place till March 19.
Ashutosh Mishra, Circle Officer, Ayodhya told The Hindu that a person had filed a complaint of missing lights on the police e-app, and the allegations of theft were being investigated. “He (the complainant) has not quoted any amount for the lights that are allegedly missing,” Mr. Mishra said.
The Ayodhya Commissioner said it was not practically possible to steal such a large number of lights from the two areas mentioned by the complainant. “The whole of Ayodhya is a heavily guarded town and 24-hour police patrolling takes place here on all 365 days. It’s not possible that such a large number of lights can be stolen from giant trees when it took hours to place them there — how can anyone steal in minutes?” Mr. Dayal said.
He said the firm given the contract to place the lights was responsible for their maintenance, and even if the theft had taken place, it was the contractor’s responsibility.
He also said he had learnt from the authorities concerned that there weren’t as many lights as the complaint said — with 3,800 lights stolen. “Still, we are going to investigate this,” Mr. Dayal said.
Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal, national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kisan Morcha, said on social media platform X that “enemies” wanted to “defame the U.P. government”. “I am really very shocked to hear that the lights and the gobo projectors installed on Bhakti Path and Ram Path in God’s city Ayodhya have gone missing….It hurts our hearts. It is an attempt by our enemies, who want to defame the U.P. government and our Central government, and also instigate our Hindu society,” Mr. Grewal said.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, took at dig at the U.P. government on social media. “Thieves have disrupted the law and order situation in U.P.-Ayodhya. That’s why people were already saying the pole is standing without electricity. The BJP government means ‘andher nagari’ (darkness everywhere),” Mr. Yadav said.
