Jharkhand government assures Jain community of Parasnath hill

The Jain community on Tuesday said it has got assurance in writing from the Jharkhand government that the latter will not develop the Sammed Shikharji Parvat on the Parasnath hill in a way that may hurt the religious sentiments of the community.

Sunil Singhi, member of the National Commission for Minorities said that the government has assured them that tourism will not be developed on the hill. To a question as to whether religious tourism will still be developed, he said that the government has assured that the religious sentiments of the community will be taken into consideration.

"Already a rule that nonvegetarian food and alcohol will not be allowed on the hill is in place," said Singhi. He said the community members had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had got assurance regarding the same.
He said they were forced to meet with the chief minister and the Prime Minister after the news that the hill will be developed for tourism started doing the rounds.

"It is a naxal affected area and the government had built a helipad for the paramilitary near the hill. This gave rise to speculation that it was being done to develop tourism and that the hill will be affected," said Singhi.

He said the hill is considered as one of the most pious pilgrimage places for the community and any such development would have hurt the sentiments of the people. He also clarified that the community was not against tourism or development in the area.