With sudden appearance of a sack containing coins showing up gaping holes in the security on Indrakeeladri, authorities are yet to take steps to plug them. Kanaka Durga temple is one of the major temples in the State that figured in terrorists' hit list. Even after six days of the incident, the issue continues to rock the Indrakeeladri. The secular and religious minded employees are still discussing it in the temple even while the blame game is on between the Executive Officer and priests about the bag of coins.
While employees want to see it from security threat point of view, the real issue of pilferage of coins or other material also needs to be investigated thoroughly. Is security threat point of view raised now to divert the original issue is what pilgrims ask now.
The temple is spending more than Rs.1.6 crore per annum on security. The security cordon comprises Special Protection Force (SPF), home guards, and private security guards. Eighteen men from the SPF, 20 home guards, and 15 private security personnel are deployed. The temple foots a bill of nearly Rs.80 lakh per annum for the SPF alone; nearly Rs.70 lakh is paid to home guards and Rs.15 lakh to home guards.
The security personnel admit that foolproof security on a par with Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) at Tirumala was not implemented on Indrakeeladri.
When contacted, Executive Officer M. Raghunath told The Hindu : “The CC camera points out that it was a handiwork of few priests. It is yet to be established who provoked them to keep the bag there. The matter is being investigated.”
The employees, however, are not ready to buy the argument that the bag was result of fight for supremacy in temple. “Who brought the sack of coins is not at all an issue here. It points to severe lapses in security. What would have been the fate of the temple had it been a bomb?” ask employees, who did not want to be quoted.
