Hindu temple coming up in Middlesbrough UK

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London Post

Hindu temple coming up in Middlesbrough

By Prasun Sonwalkar

 

In the latest example of exquisitely carved Hindu temples in Britain, a

team of four marble masons from India has arrived to build a temple in

Middlesbrough in north England.

 

There are several Hindu temples in towns across Britain—many of them

featuring idols and stonework brought from India or executed here by

experts brought in from India.

 

The most popular of such temples is the Swaminarayan temple in

Neasden, London, and the Jain temple in Leicester.

 

For the temple under construction in Middlesbrough, blocks of marble

have been imported from the same quarries from where marble was

used during the construction of the Taj Mahal—the Chosira mines in

Rajasthan.

 

The team of four marble masons led by Shokat Ali Rander Munnabhai is

currently working on the £150,000 temple inside the Hindu Cultural

Centre in North Ormesby.

 

The entire marble shipment arrived in 76 boxes last October. Centre

president Krishan Nath told the media: "It took us two days just to

unload it all. About 15 masons worked for six months to carve the

marble by hand and it is a very intricate design.

 

"The whole plan for the temple started two years ago and prior to this

our temple was made of wood.

 

"We thought we would make the temple like the traditional ones in India,

which are made of marble.

 

"The priest and I appealed to the congregation to buy one square metre

of marble each, which cost pounds 120.

 

"One family bought one metre, then another would buy two metres and

then someone else would buy three metres. It just went from there.

 

"We would like to thank all the members who have contributed so

generously and once this is finished, it will last for 100 years."

 

The four masons will stay until February 20. Nath said their arrival in

England had been held up as they could not get a work visa so he had

to fly out to Delhi himself.

 

"I went to Delhi and persuaded the authorities that it could only be done

by the people who had made this intricate work," he added.

 

Asian doctors face disciplinary charges in UK Five doctors, including

four Asians, are facing disciplinary proceedings at the General Medical

Council for issuing false sicknotes to newspaper reporters posing as

patients.

 

Dr Anand Anand, a general practitioner based in Gosforth in northeast

England, is charged with issuing a false sicknote to an undercover

Sunday Times reporter, who told him she wanted to take time off work

to go on holiday.

 

Anand (59) was one of five doctors to appear before the General Medical

Council in London recently in connection with a Sunday Times

investigation in November 2003. All five may be struck of the medical

register.

 

However, there is much support for Anand among the locals. Nearly 300

people signed a petition drawn up by Gosforth-based charity, the Anglo

Asian Friendship Society, where Anand had been giving free clinics for

three years.

 

The petition reads: "We pledge our fullest support for Dr Anand. He has

run free clinics for a number of years and we, more than anyone, can

testify to his ability and character. He is a man of uncommon moral

rectitude, a doctor of unique skill and discretion. In our experience, he is

equally committed to serving the emotional and physical needs of

patients and strictly upholds the code of professional ethics."

 

The hearing at the GMC is expected to last for 12 days. The other four

doctors facing charges are Gurpinder Singh Saluja (Essex), Abdul Aziz

Shariff Jamal (Cardiff), Hari Bhajan Singh (Cardiff) and Earl Fitzroy

O'Brien (Birmingham). They each face a charge of serious professional

misconduct for acting in a manner that was inappropriate, dishonest and

an abuse of their position, the GMC's fitness to Practise Panel was

told.

 

Anand allegedly told reporter Rachel Dobson he would note in his

records she was suffering from "any rubbish, it doesn't matter". Saluja

allegedly promised the reporter he would give her a sicknote if she said

she was suffering from "stress or depression or whatever you feel like".

 

(The writer is a UK-based journalist and can be contacted on

sprasun)