Discrimination Against Disabled and Elderly 

A group of ladies active in the local community noticed that there were many elderly and disabled members of the congregation that were unable to sit on the floor in the Darbar any more so instead sat on chairs outside the Darbar on the landing area of the stairs. 

Some of these elderly members would sit on these chairs all day as they wished to be close to their Guru as possible which was at times uncomfortable for them especially in the winter months when the cold chilling breeze could be felt coming straight up the stairs. There is no heating in this stairwell area where these elderly members sit and sometimes they have been ridiculed by members of the committee when they have been seen to huddle up in shawls or blankets, being asked "would you like a bed here as well" as these members of the committee did not like seeing these elderly people sitting on chairs even outside the Darbar.

So when this discrimination came to the attention of this group of ladies they began to help the elderly by bringing up chairs and placing at the back of the Darbar for the elderly to sit down in the Darbar so that could comfortable sit and listen to the prayers as before when they sat outside they could not even hear the prayers properly as there are no speakers in the stairwell. 

This soon came to the attention of the Management Committee who tried to stop this practice, so the ladies began a campaign spanning two different Management Committees to get adequate  seating for elderly, disabled members of the community installed in the Darbar. This was finally passed by the current 2013-2014 committee where it was agreed to install seating at the rear of the Darbar for the elderly and disabled, at which the whole congregation were very happy and thankful for.

But a short time after the seating had been installed it came to light that Management Committee were planning on installing glass screens in front of the seating essentially partitioning the elderly and disabled off from the rest of the congregation again. The members of the congregation that were using the seating were extremely upset by this news as were the group of ladies that had worked so hard to win the elderly and disabled their rights.

The ladies immediately got into action and started a petition where they were able to obtain over 600 signatures from members of the congregation within only a couple of days and would have had many more if they had not been rudely stopped by Mr Seetal Singh (Treasurer). Full details of this incident can be read at the below link :

It was Mr Lakha Singh (Stage Secretary) who eventually arrived and got involved and persuaded the ladies to stop the petition at that time and for them to return on the following day on Sunday 16th February 2014 at 12.00 hours when he said the executive committee members would be present for the ladies to hand over the petition.

On Sunday the 16th February 2014 the congregation rallied with the group of ladies and went to hand the petition to Mr Balbir Singh (President) in the general office but were directed to the main committee meeting room in Hall 4 where a pre-conceived  'Kangaroo Court' was held. During this 'Kangaroo Court' Mr Balbir Singh was immediately handed the petition along with copies of the UK's anti-discriminatory legislation, so that they would be unable to say at a later date that they were unaware of the legislation. But without even looking at the letter or petition members of the committee stood up in turn and made ridiculous and shocking statements. Like :- 

Mr Tarsem Singh (Vice President) who was one of the main supporters of having the screens installed stated " the congregation need not worry about the elderly as the committee are working on plans towards building an old peoples home within the grounds of the Gurdwara Sahib just like there is a Nursery"

No one there could understand what his point was or what it actually had to do with the issue at hand as what good would a nursing home in the grounds of the Gurdwara be to somebody who if they came inside the Gurdwara would be segregated from the rest of the congregation in a humiliating degrading manner due to their inability to sit on the floor any more.

Mr Seetal Singh went on to say something even more moronic "that British law was not applicable or enforceable on the Gurdwara Sahib as the only law applicable on the Gurdwara Sahib is Gods law"

Which to some may sound very pious, but this was said during a furious rant by Mr Seetal Singh whilst waving his hands around like as if was going to physically attack someone.  We were under the impression that, as the Treasurer for the Gurdwara Sahib he should know that the Gurdwara Sahib has to fill in tax return forms for Her Majesties Revenue & Customs, or maybe he just sends them directly to a higher office.  

This is the calibre of sevadars chosen to be on the management committee to look after the interests of the Gurdwara Sahib and it's Congregation, where he is not even aware of the facts that:

Gurdwara Sahib must comply with health and safety regulations which is why there are fire extinguishers strategically placed all around the Gurdwara Sahib (one especially being in the general office where Mr Seetal Singh sits to do the accounting)

The fact that the Gurdwara Sahib only just recently had to widen a ramp at the rear entrance after a complaint from the ring and ride service drivers refusing to drop off a member of the congregation as the ramp at the back was not sufficiently wide enough to allow safe access for a wheel chair. The Gurdwara Sahib were forced to by legislation to comply with this order as it was made by people from outside of the Gurdwara Sahib whom they could not intimidate or shout at.

These are but a couple of examples from a list which is endless where the Gurdwara must abide by certain laws of this country.

Taking these bigoted views from certain members of the management committee these ladies have joined and become active members of the Sikh Forum with whom they have collectively taken this matter forward for the benefit of the whole congregation. 

The matter was taken local Councillors and MP's who have fully offered their support to resolve this matter and have written to the Gurdwara Sahib re-iterating and confirming the facts about the law that had already been highlighted to them before they put the screens up in the Darbar Sahib.

Below are links to x3 letters 1. is the letter handed to the Management Committee with the petition, 2. a letter from Paul Uppal MP and 3. a letter Pat McFadden MP, to which no relies have ever been received.