Gorkha, Aug 14: A quartz crystal that was retrieved from Satipipal of Gorkha Municipality-7 in Gorkha district will be put in the Gorkha Durbar premises as a Bhagawati Shila (stone), it has been decided. The precious stone weighing 52 kg 330 grams was seized on June 29 from a house belonging to a local Ram Maya Shahi and the family had been worshipping the stone at the house for years.

The decision taken by an all-party meeting on Sunday followed the protest by the family who worshipped the stone and the local people demanding that the luminous rock should not be kept out of the district, said municipality deputy mayor Masali Maya Thokar. The meeting was participated by people’s representatives including mayor Krishna Bahadur Ranamagar, more than 17 local organisations, the Shahi family and intellectuals.

“The all party meeting decided to keep the stone in the palace premises after the local Gorkhali people, who have taken it as a symbol of power, protested demanding that it should not be taken outside the district,” said Thokar. The local government and stakeholders also agreed on placing the stone in the palace premises, she said.

The meeting also took a decision to write to the Government of Nepal, the Office of Prime Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Mines and Geology, and the Department of Archeology notifying about the decision. Similarly, direction has been made to notify the district administration office, Gorkha and the district police office about the decision, she said.
Earlier, the Department of Mines and Geology confirmed the luminous stone as a sizable piece of quartz crystal.