A closure notice hangs from the gate of a Tibetan temple in Gaya. Picture by Suman

Gaya, March 10: Forty Buddhist monasteries of different countries in Bodhgaya closed their gates for an indefinite period this morning to protest the power disconnection by the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB). Only the world heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara remained open.

The monasteries were closed to protest against the BSEB drive under which power connection to at least 11 monasteries has been disconnected since Tuesday evening. Monasteries to which power supply was disconnected include the Tibetan monastery, where spiritual leader Dalai Lama stays during his visit to Bodhgaya.

These 11 monasteries have accumulated power dues of Rs 65 lakh. A row over the tariff between BSEB and the administration of monasteries could be attributed to the non-payment of bills. The monasteries have been demanding that they be billed according at domestic rates rather than commercial ones.

A meeting under the banner of International Buddhist Council (IBC) and attended by representatives of all the monasteries at Bodh Gaya yesterday took the decision to close all the monasteries.

IBC secretary Kiran Lama said the Buddhist monasteries have been protesting over the power bills being charged at commercial rates. The administration of the monasteries has agreed to find out a solution for billing them at a rate between the domestic and commercial tariff.

BSEB executive engineer (rural) Gauri Shankar Prasad told The Telegraph that overall power dues in Bodhgaya was around Rs 6 crore. “The power bill defaulters included 22 monasteries. Power supply to 11 monasteries, including three today, has been disconnected on the BSEB chairman’s order. Around Rs 3 crore has been recovered. We will disconnect power to more monasteries if payment is not made,” the executive engineer said.

A large number of Buddhist devotees and tourists stay in these monasteries during their visit to Bodhgaya every year. The inflow of devotees and the tourists is good between October and February.

Hotel Association president Jay Singh said only the temple area should be considered for domestic category and other parts of the monastery premises into commercial category for billing of power consumption.

In the master plan prepared for Bodhgaya, it has been decided to exempt only up to 10 rooms of monasteries from charging power bill or other taxes at commercial rates.