Washington 6th, August : Ten years after a white supremacist shot down six Sikh worshippers at the Gurdwara in the US state of Wisconsin The White House is calling for an increase in the funding of a federal program that offers security grants to churches of worship.A Sikh-American advocacy organization has stated that a lot of Gurdwaras aren’t successful in taking advantage of the funding scheme that was established in 2006 due to of an arduous application process and timeframes, VOA reported.
“Too many gurdwaras haven’t been receiving funds, and that’s an issue that is very difficult,” said Sim Singh Attariwala who is the Senior policy and advocacy manager at the Sikh Coalition in Washington.
“We do believe that more must be done to ensure that the houses of worship throughout the country are able to make use of certain of the federal resources that could provide additional funds that could be used to improve security (and) to enhance education,” Attariwala said.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) is managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state agencies, provides financial assistance to ensure the physical security of non-governmental organizations, including churches of worship.
To facilitate Sikh temples and smaller places of worship to join the program, the group of 89 gurdwaras based in the United States sent an email to Joe Biden on Thursday, urging Biden’s support of the NSGP Improvement Act, VOA reported.
“We think that everyone should be able access to these resources, even the ones who aren’t keen on bringing police departments into their homes of worship,” the group wrote in the letter.
The programme was initiated by Congress in 2016 – nearly four years following Wade Michael Page, a radicalized Army veteran killed six persons and seriously injured seven others at the Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
The attack was considered to be the most fatal assault on Sikhs in the US, VOA reported.
Since the massacre, Sikh temples have hardened their security by installing security cameras as well as taking additional measures, Attariwala said.
However, the security measures have been overshadowed by a steady flow of attacks on houses of worship in recent years, he said.
“We are witnessing increasing attacks that are fueled by the violent white supremacist ideology and that’s very worrying.More must be done to safeguard the communities we live in.”
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