Ramanathpuram
Acting on the directive of the Madurai bench of Madras High Court, Principal District Judge (PDJ) has made surprise visit to the Sri Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram and found that two associations led by ‘Prohithars’ and ‘Yatriga paniyalargal’ ‘fleeced’ the devotees who visited the temple for performing rituals and pujas.
After a division bench directed the district judges to inspect temples coming under Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department with regard to sanitation and welfare of the devotees, PDJ A. Kayalvizhi visited the temple on Saturday evening and interacted with wide section of people. She was accompanied by Sub Judge/Secretary, District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), V Ramalingam and District Munsiff cum Judicial Magistrate, Rameswaram, Sridevi.
Sources privy to the team said the enquiries revealed that the devotees who visited the pilgrim island for performing ‘tharpanam’ to pay obeisance to their forefathers, conduct special pujas and ‘homams’ were allegedly fleeced by the ‘Agnitheertha Kadarkarai Prohithar Nala Sangam’ and ‘Yatrigar Paniyalargal Sangam’.
Rates for different types of rituals were displayed at the Agnitheertham seashore only to be flouted, the sources said. On the occasion of Aadi Amavasai on Saturday, priests from Thanjavur and Chennai were allowed to perform the rituals after they paid ₹200 to the Sangam but half of the amount they charged for conducting rituals was collected by local men, on behalf of a person, who has taken ‘auction’ for the rituals.
The person who had taken the auction after paying ₹ 27 lakh to the Yatrigar Sangam deployed his men and collected half of the amounts from the priests, they said. “It is surprising that the temple authorities and the district administration had no say in this,” the sources said.
The Yatrigar sangam fixed ₹ 25 per person for taking ‘theertham’ with water drawn from the venerated wells inside the temple but collected four times of the rate, the sources alleged.
For conducting ‘Sangalpa puja’ at the third corridor, inside the temple, the Yatrigar Sangam brought priests from outside and collected an exorbitant amount, though temple priests were available to conduct the puja, temple authorities said.
For the ‘Thilaga homam’ also, the priests collected five to ten times more of ₹ 5,000 fixed for the homam, they said.
When contacted, Collector S. Natarajan said he had already discussed the issue with the representatives of the two sangams and formed a sub-committee, headed by District Revenue Officer (DRO), to streamline the system. The DRO had also held a meeting with them and the system would be streamlined after fixing the rates, he said.
Reacting to the allegations, A. Baskaran, president, All India Yatrigar Paniyalargal Sangam, denied that they ‘fleeced’ the devotees.
They accepted extra money voluntarily given by the devotees for their ‘value-added services’, he said. Of ₹ 25 they collected for ‘theertham,’ they paid ₹ 12 to the local municipality and ₹ 1 for underground sewage system, he said.
Devotees pay them extra amount when the ‘paniyalargal’ took them around the temple and helped them for darshan and worship, he said.
He also denied that the sangam auctioned ₹ 27 lakh for rituals on Aadi Amavasai. He said they brought ‘outside priests’ for the puja in the third corridor indifference to the wishes of devotees who preferred ‘Pandas’ (Maharashtra Brahmins), he said.
