AGRA: A few months ago in July, priests at Banke Bihari were fined for offering 'prasad' to UP chief secretary inside temple premises in violation of norms.
Now, the 'prasad' is back in the news. Food Safety and Drug Association (FSDA) officials have collected samples of the 'prasad' being sold and distributed in the temple to test its quality. They also collected the sample of the food being served to Lord Krishna as 'bhog prasad'.
The samples were collected following a complaint by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav. He visited Mathura on September 2 for the inauguration of Govardhan tehsil. Yadav claimed that he fell ill after consuming the 'prasad' of the Banke Bihari temple. He ordered the district administration to check the quality of the 'prasad' being sold and distributed in the temple.
The FSDA team allgedly faced resistance from the temple committee officials while collecting the samples. A team of FSDA headed by food officer A K Gupta visited Banke Bihari temple on Thursday evening and collected the samples of the 'prasad' being distributed to devotees and the sweets being sold in the shops situated nearby.
Both temple authorities and local shopkeepers resisted the FSDA team's attempt to collect samples of the 'prasad'. It was only after the DM's intervention that they submitted the samples to the FSDA team.
The FSDA team also collected the sample of the food being served to Lord Krishna as 'bhog prasad'.
The team visited the kitchen where food items for the 'bhoj' were being prepared. This created panic among the temple authorities who refused to allow food samples to be taken by the food safety team. Later, the DM called up the temple authorities and persuaded its officials to allow the team to collect the food samples.
"We have collected the 'boondi' samples which were being prepared in the temple kitchen. All the samples will be sent to the laboratory for testing," said food safety officer OP Singh.
Senior member of Banke Bihari Temple Committee Nand Kishore Upmanyu said the temple committee would cooperate with the FSDA team at every step.
He said cleanliness and hygiene, both are being taken care of, while preparing the 'bhog prasad' for the Lord.
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