Only 10 B grade temples have CCTV cameras

37 of the 40 A grade temples have security system in place

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shantharaju (left), Superintendent of Police Bhushan G. Borase, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim and Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar at a meeting in Mangaluru on Tuesday.— Photo: By Special Arrangement

A majority of big temples in Dakshina Kannada have installed closed circuit television cameras as a security measure while B grade temples have lagged behind.

This came to light at a meeting of managements of A and B grade temples at the office of Deputy Commissioner here on Tuesday.

Of 40 A grade temples, 37 have installed CCTV cameras. But of the 25 B grade temples, only 10 have installed the CCTV. The district has 435 C category temples.

The government has classified such temples having more than Rs. 25 lakh income per annum as A grade while those temples whose annual income is between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 25 lakh have been classified under B grade. Temples having income less than Rs. 5 lakh a year have been categorised as C class temples.

Ravindra, Executive Officer of Kukke Subrahmanya temple, the leading temple in the State in terms of revenue, told the meeting that the temple has installed 81 CCTV cameras under the direction of the police and in addition, 16 more cameras would be installed.

He said that 14 CCTV cameras have been installed at Mahalingehwara temple at Puttur, of which too he is the Executive Officer.

The meeting did not take any decision on linking the CCTV footages to jurisdictional police stations.

Bhushan Gulabrao Borase, Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, asked temples also to install some dummy cameras on the temple premises to prevent burglaries. Mr. Borase also asked temple authorities to install burglar alarms with battery back-up.

“It is because burglars usually cut off power supply first after entering a temple. In such a case, burglar alarms having battery back-up will come to help,” he said.

The Superintendent of Police said that burglar alarms should be concealed as they should not be easily seen by visitors to the temple. Only the key functionaries of the temple should know their location.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar asked such temples whose annual income was above Rs. 1 crore to send an action plan of development works they intended to take up. Such works should help devotees.