AMRITSAR, Nov. 22 -- YouTube's week-long suspension of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee's (SGPC) channel, SGPC Sri Amritsar, which streams live Gurbani kirtan from the Golden Temple, has once again put the spotlight on the gurdwara body's proposed satellite channel. The project was announced two years ago and is yet to see any progress. The suspension of the channel comes in the wake of a video uploaded on October 31 that featured a Sikh preacher making references to the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on her death anniversary. On Thursday, chief minister Bhagwant Mann, while addressing an event at Sangrur, took a jibe at the gurdwara body for not launching its own satellite channel. It was in July 2023 that SGPC launched efforts to start the channel after its agreement with G-Next Media Private Limited (PTC Channel) to telecast live Gurbani expired. On July 26, 2023, a delegation, led by SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, met the then information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur on July 26, 2023 who assured the gurdwara body full support of the Union government. A SGPC spokesperson, privy to the developments, said that Centre nod is awaited to start the process as the gurdwara body will need to get the uplink and downlink licence from the I&B ministry. "As per the Centre's norms, a satellite channel can be registered only in the name of an individual. While as per the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925, under which the SGPC was constituted, nothing can be procured or subscribed in the name of an individual, which is the main hurdle in the way of starting the channel," one of the SGPC official privy to developments, said, pleading anonymity. Since 1998, the SGPC has given the rights to broadcast Gurbani from the holiest Sikh shrine to various channels. In 2012, it signed an agreement with G-Next Media Private Limited (PTC Channel), in which Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has a stake. The agreement expired on July 23, 2023. Under this agreement, the PTC channel gave Rs.1 crore annually (with a 10% annual increase) to the education fund of SGPC. Pertinently, even after expiry of the agreement, the PTC channel has been broadcasting Gurbani live at the request of the SGPC in the absence of its own satellite channel. While launching its YouTube/Web channel for the live telecast of gurbani in July 2023, Dhami made it clear that the PTC channel will continue the telecast Gurbani, but the rights will remain with the SGPC....