ALBERTA, Canada: The Sanatan Mandir Cultural Society (SMCS) plans to launch construction of Canada’s northernmost Hindu temple in Fort McMurray (Alberta) on a two-acre plot in May 2018 and finish in October 2019, costing about four million dollars.
SMCS, a registered charitable organization, would be raising funds for this about 30,000 square feet Hindu temple and cultural centre, which will include statues of various Hindu deities and will be marked by various spires.
Interim Mandir run by SMCS opens daily and holds Aarti. SMCS also organizes various cultural, religious, social and educational events in the area and to “promote multiculturalism” is one of its objectives. It plans to conduct yoga, spirituality, dance, music, art and language classes besides undertaking charitable and humanitarian activities. It has launched “One paycheck to Mandir” donation project, reports suggest.
Welcoming this development, Indians across North America commended efforts of temple leaders and area community towards realizing this temple and Cultural Centre complex.
Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this temple complex would help in this direction.
Kalpesh N Patel, Chitra Udayshankar, Vipul Patel and Dipak Bhatt are President, Vice President, General Secretary and Treasurer respectively of the Temple Committee while Jigar Desai is the Board of Governors Chairperson.
India Post News Service
