Temples of wealth

[1]

The recent discovery of treasure trove worth approximately `1 lakh crore in the Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has once again given rise to the debate of whether religious institutions should bring in transparency related to the humungous funds they garner. The news comes

close on the heels of cash, diamonds and precious metals being found in the personal chambers of Sri Satya Sai Baba. And just a few days before that, an examination of Baba Ramdev’s assets revealed that his aashram is worth over `200 crore. In a country where people wear their religion on their sleeve, it is not surprising to see crores being collected by the boards and trustees of temples. Most of them are also controlled by the government leading to further speculation of what actually happens to the funds.
Mangesh Shinde of the Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai says that the government has complete control over the temple and is a part of every important policy-making decision. Known to amass hundreds of crores as donation from its devotees, the temple is listed among the powerful religious destinations in the country. “We have donations that come in two forms — cash and kind. We have around `146 crores in our fixed deposits, 110 kgs of gold and 1,100 kgs of silver. 30 per cent of it is used on social activities and 50 per cent goes to the trust property development. 10 per cent is reserved for the management fund and the remaining 10 per cent is used for the administrative staff. There is a strict vigilance kept on the transaction of money and we see to it that not one rupee is out of place,” says Shinde.
The world famous Venkateswara Tirupati temple, which is known to receive record offerings, gets an annual hundi collection of approximately `600-700 crores. Bhaskar Reddy, financial advisor to the temple, says that it is indeed a task managing the temple’s property and assets and there is a huge amount of planning that goes into it. “We have to ensure that every piece of jewellery received is intact. There is a physical verification of the ornaments every year and we have approximately 18,000 employees who run the autonomous institution,” says Reddy.
An interesting point is that both these temples are under the control of the government. Shinde says, “We operate under the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust Act 1980 which has the government laying down certain terms and conditions under which we operate.” Reddy adds, “We too operate under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1987 which has the government taking certain policy related decisions for us.”
All offerings are opened under the scrutinising watch of bank officials, says B.B. Goel, manager at the Shri Sai Bhakta Samaj temple, Lodhi Road, that sees one of the largest gathering of followers in the capital. “The entire procedure concerning the handling of donations is very transparent. Counting of the offerings is done by bank officials every Saturday. Ours is a registered society where 17 committee members decide on the expenditure in committee meetings and only then the fund is disbursed from the donations. A balance sheet is maintained and audited.” Apart from upkeep of the premises, the committee decides even on variable expenses like paying doctors that attend OPDs, medicines and construction of dharamshalas, says Goel.
But stories of temple trusts using their wealth for purposes not quite socially beneficial (a case in point being the gold throne that the Shirdi Sai Baba temple trust wanted to create for the idol) has devotees confused. Their donations — whether large or small — are made in all good faith, and they would like to know where the money is spent. Ramya Kumar, an ardent devotee of the Siddhivinayak says, “All I care for is transparency in the way these trusts operate. I wish they would use the donations for more social welfare activities.”