Shimla, August 10: The restoration of the nearly 200-year-old Dev Junga Devchand temple at Thoond in Junga tehsil is being carried out with public donations after the temple committee’s request for financial assistance from the Language and Culture Department remained pending for four years.
A general meeting of the temple committee was held at Thoond on Monday, chaired by committee president Prem Thakur and the deity’s Gur Nand Lal Sharma. The meeting focused on the financial difficulties being faced in completing the restoration work.
According to the committee, a proposal seeking a grant for the temple’s restoration was submitted to the Directorate of Language and Culture in Shimla, but the file has remained pending due to lack of funds. Prem Thakur said that if the government was unable to provide assistance for the preservation and restoration of ancient temples, such schemes should be discontinued.
The committee said the temple had reached a severely dilapidated condition, prompting local residents and the deity’s Kailans to begin restoration work themselves after waiting for government assistance for nearly two years.
So far, around ₹50 lakh has been collected through contributions from devotees and local residents, enabling nearly 75% of the restoration work to be completed. However, the committee said it is now struggling to raise funds for the remaining 25% of the work as well as payments to skilled artisans from Mandi district.
The temple is being restored in the traditional Deva architectural style, featuring intricate woodwork and carvings depicting deities. The committee has urged the state government and the Language and Culture Department to clear the pending file and release the grant at the earliest so that the remaining work can be completed.
Meanwhile, officials of the Language and Culture Department said several cases related to the restoration of temples across Himachal Pradesh are pending because of inadequate government funding.
