Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment P.K. Sekar Babu handed over 211.546 kg gold ornaments offered by the devotees to Lord Subramaniya Swami Temple to the State Bank of India on Friday to be invested in the gold bonds.
Since all the gold ornaments offered by the devotees cannot be used to adorn the idols during rituals, it would be cleaned and melted in the Union Government’s facility in Mumbai and converted into pure gold blocks to be deposited in the bank, which in turn would invest it in gold bonds. Hence, the shrine would get sizable interest as revenue through this investment. The interest, the temples get through the investments made in gold bonds were being used to renovate the shrines.
Handing over 211.546 kg gold ornaments, worth about ₹100 crore, to General Manager of State Bank of India Govind Narayan Goel in the presence of retired Judge of Madras High Court R. Mala and Minister for Fisheries and MLA of Tiruchendur constituency Anita R. Radhakrishnan on Friday, Mr. Sekar Babu said the gold ornaments offered by the devotees to Mariamman Temple, Irukkankudi, Bhavani Amman Temple, Periyapalayam, Devi Karumariamman Temple, Thiruverkaadu, and Kamatchi Amman Temple, Maangaadu, had been melted to be converted into pure gold blocks. These gold blocks had been deposited in the SBI to be invested in gold bonds.
In Tiruchendur, ₹100 crore-worth 211.546 kg gold had been handed over to the SBI to be invested in gold bonds as fixed deposit for five years. Hence, the Tiruchendur temple would get ₹2.50 crore per year as interest for five years.
“The amount we get as interest from the gold bonds will be spent for improvement of devotees-friendly facilities in Tiruchendur temple,” Mr. Sekar Babu assured.
Regarding the ongoing renovation works, the Minister said 30% of the works had been completed.
When asked about the possibility of repairing the bell offered by martyr Veerapandia Kattabomman to Tiruchendur temple and making it functional again, Mr. Sekar Babu said his department would consider the suggestion.
Special Officer, Department of HR and CE, J. Kumaragurubaran, Commissioner K. V. Muralidharan and Collector K. Senthil Raj were present.
