The Ging monastery in Darjeeling district. (Suman Tamang)

Ging (Darjeeling), Nov. 1: The almost 200-year-old Ging monastery has suffered much damage in the September 18 quake but nothing has yet been done to restore it or even clear the debris.

Located some 10km from Darjeeling town, the Sangchhen Thong Delling Gompa has developed big cracks in its pillars and walls and large chunks of fallen concrete are strewn in its corridors. It has been functioning without a head lama since the death of Phutuk Bhutia on January 25.

“The structure has been extensively damaged and work must begin immediately to restore the monastery,” Subin Pradhan, an architect, said.

Although the monastery, built in 1818, is in Darjeeling district, it belongs to the lamas of Sikkim’s Pemayangtse monastery and is under the control of Gangtok’s ecclesiastical department. Its head is deputed from among the Pemayangtse lamas.

Phintso Wangdi, the son of the late head lama, confirmed that the monastery had been headless since late January. “But we are in constant touch with the Pemayangtse monastery.

“I have been told to keep the structure in its present form, so we have not cleared the debris from the site. Until my father’s death, the Sikkim government used to provide Rs 6,000 to run the monastery and Rs 5,000 to run a class for the monks,” he said.

Along with the Ging, the Bhutia Bustee monastery in Darjeeling is also under the control of Sikkim’s ecclesiastical department. The Bhutia Bustee monastery, however, belongs to the lamas of the Phodong monastery in North Sikkim district.

Yapo S. Yongda, a Pemayangtse management committee member, said both monasteries are assets of the Sikkim government. The monasteries had remained under Gangtok even when the then Sikkim king had “leased” Darjeeling to the East India Company in 1835, he said.

“The Sikkim ecclesiastical department must take steps to preserve and protect our monastic properties in Darjeeling.”

Yongda said the initiative to restore the Ging monastery had to come from the ecclesiastical department as “renovation and maintenance” were its responsibility. There had also been some encroachments on the monastery premises, he added.

Ecclesiastical department officials could not be contacted.

Wangdi said the local people were trying to set up a committee to maintain the Ging monastery. “We want to preserve this place, which is a testament to Darjeeling’s history.”