Over 27 kg of gold donated by devotees to Mariamman Temple at Irukkangudi was handed over to State Bank of India for depositing it under Reserve Bank of India's Revamped Gold Deposit Scheme, 2015. The temple would get a monthly interest of ₹2 lakh on the 5-year-deposit.
Revenue Minister K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran, and Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P. K. Sekar Babu, handed over the gold in the presence of former High Court Judge, R. Mala on the temple preimses.
HR and CE Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran and Collector J. Meghanath Reddy, and MLAs, A. R. R. Srinivasan, S. Thangapandian, A.R.R. Raghuraman, were present.
The Ministers said that among gold ornaments that were donated by the devotees in the last 10 years, those not required for the temple would be melted and turned into gold bars and deposited in the Revamped Gold Deposit Scheme 2015.
The gold were segregated in the presence of former High Court Judge, Ms. Mala, in October 2021. A total of 27.236 kg of gold was handed over to the SBI officials for depositing in the name of the temple administration.
The returns on the deposit would be used for the temple maintenance, creating amenities for devotees.
The Minister said that so far consecreation of 106 temples have been performed by the State Government and works for 1,000 other temples would begin soon.
Bhoomi puja for a mandapam at a cost of ₹42.50 lakh was performed on the occasion. The Ministers also inaugurated a library renovated on the temple premises at a cost of ₹3.48 lakh. Saplings of vilvam trees, the Sthala vriksham, were planted on the occasion and a toilet complex constructed at a cost of ₹36 lakh was inaugurated.
Joint Commissioners of HR and CE, C. Kumaradurai, Baskaran, Assistant Commissioner, Karunakaran, Hereditary Trustee, Ramamoorthi Poosari, were among those who were present.
Published - April 01, 2022 09:39 pm IST
