Selsella (Meghalaya), June 23: A five-decade-old temple in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills is set to make way for a brand new building.
"The planning and design for the new temple is ready and we will get a new construction soon," said Ram Singh, a member of the temple management committee.
Chandra Shekar Rao, an architect from Mumbai, has prepared the design for the temple.
"We have not received any funds from the government so far but have received assurance that they are willing to provide assistance. We have received generous donation from devotees and have managed funds to begin the new construction," Singh added.
Narsing Shah, a trader from Tura, has donated money for the new stone idol, which is ready and will be brought from Rajasthan after the existing temple is demolished.
"The present temple is not spacious enough to house the new idol. Next year, the puja will be held with the permanent idol of goddess Kali," he said.
The temple, which is located at Babedpara village in Selsella, about 55km from Tura in West Garo Hills, will be dismantled next month. It was built in 1965.
Singh said in May, activist Prasant Bhusan had visited the temple and had assured that he would raise the issue in New Delhi so that necessary assistance can be extended to the temple.
The Charantola temple attracts over 10 lakh to 15 lakh devotees from across the country during April and May. The temple holds immense significance for the indigenous Hajong and Koch tribes.
Local residents believe that an epidemic had struck the village, causing loss of many lives. The puja for goddess Kali began here after a fortune-teller, who had migrated from Bangladesh during the Liberation War, made the suggestion.
In the past five decades, the temple was built with donations from devotees. A three-day annual puja are held during the end of April or May according to the Hindu calendar on amavasya.
Devotees believe that wishes are fulfilled if one offers prayers at the temple. In the subsequent year, the devotees, whose wishes are fulfilled, sacrifice of goat, pigeons and bull.
"Initially only local Hindu population offered puja here but slowly the temple rose to prominence and devotees from different parts of the country started flocking here," said Jibendro Narayan Koch, secretary, Charantola Kali Puja Welfare Society.
Pujas are held on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
For Hindu devotees from Meghalaya, Assam, Bengal, Nepal and Bangladesh, the temple is considered a must-visit place where one can offer obeisance to goddess Kali. Local residents believe that the goddess had appeared to the people here at the time when an epidemic had struck many villages in Selsella, which is now populated mostly by the Garo community.
Koch and Hajong are minority communities in Garo hills.
"It is an irony that though this temple attracts so many visitors, the government has not provided much assistance to us," said a member of the temple committee.
The government has provided little assistance to the temple under the Backward Regions Grant Fund for a community hall and the tourism department has provided a community toilet at the temple site.