A vast majority of the advisory committees that organise massive temple festivals expending substantial sums do not have a protocol for conducting such festivals and are reported to be functioning in an ad hoc manner.
Official sources told The Hindu here that the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has enforced a code of conduct, cleared by the High Court, for the advisory committees in the 1,200 temples which come under its ambit, but the temples owned by private trusts as well as the advisory committees of the temples being managed by other devaswoms do not have a specific code of conduct for holding such festivities, including competitive pyrotechnics.
This is being cited as the main reason for the recurring accidents in different parts of the State. The committees are not accountable to anyone. They function in an informal manner and disperse soon after the conduct of the annual festival, the sources said.
As per code enforced by the TDB, the advisory committees should comprise those who frequent the temples regularly and their tenure should only be for two years. Their statements of income and expenditure should be audited by board officials as per the provisions of the code. Since the board officials are engrossed in their routine chores, seldom do they get the time to audit the accounts and also monitor the functioning of the committees. It had prompted many of the committees to become complacent, the sources said.
Most of the committees function beyond their tenure and act in an arbitrary manner and do not heed to complaints from the local residents on noise pollution and also the hazards in holding such pyrotechnic displays without considering space and other constraints. Those manning the committees were often unaware of the consequences in holding such festivities in violation of the basic norms, sources said.
Though the devaswoms and the government are aware of the lapses in the functioning of the committees, they were unable to act as it is feared to hurt religious sentiments. Either the government should enforce the TDB festival code for other temples or work out a new one to avert such incidents in the future, the sources added.
