Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday announced a slew of measures, including a scheme to protect the immovable assets of temples and creation of new avenues for the livelihood of various sections of artisans associated with temples besides increasing the pension to former employees of temples.
In a statement, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that the details of assets such as metal idols, statues and lands belonging to various temples across the State would be collected and documented with Geographic Information System (GIS) and mapped with Global Positioning System (GPS). Services such as room allocation, charity activities would be offered online. A specific software for Enterprise Resource Planning would be developed at a cost of Rs. 1 crore to efficiently manage temples in the State.
The Chief Minister also announced a scheme for creating career opportunities for sculptors, carpenters, handicraft artists, architectural experts, musicians, folklore experts, among others, who have been associated with temples.
“Over a period of time, they have lost patronage...I have ordered for implementing a scheme to expand avenues for their livelihood and to hone their skills,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said, adding that the scheme would be implemented at a cost of Rs. 5 crore.
