There has been a decline in the revenue of the Srikanteshwara temple at Nanjangud after the demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 last week.
According to Jayaprakash, executive officer of the temple, the revenue of the temple has reduced by over 35 per cent on an average.
There has also been a 40 per cent decline in the number of devotees visiting the temple, Mr. Jayaprakash said.
Mr. Jayaprakash told The Hindu that the average income of the temple is about Rs. 1.25 crore per month, which includes the sale of special entrance tickets, archana tickets and other religious rituals performed at the temple.
“Devotees are producing Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes for different sevas. The temple authorities have no other option but to refuse the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. The temple authorities are asking the devotees to give small denomination notes as religious institutions are not permitted to accept the banned notes,” Mr. Jayaprakash said.
As a result, people who can afford to buy tickets for special entrance or special pooja stand in long queues for the darshan and this has resulted in the temple losing a major chunk of its income, Mr. Jayaprakash said.
Over 3,500 to 4,000 people normally visit the temple on Sundays, Mondays and other auspicious days and at least 2,000 people visit the temple on other days on an average, he said. “Even dakshine to the arathi thatte has come down drastically,” he said.
He said that the temple authorities were not aware of people putting bags of the now banned Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes into the temple hundis. However, he said that he will soon appeal to the Deputy Commissioner of the district to open the hundis in the last week of November.
Similarly, there has been a sharp decline in the income and the number of visitors to the Chamundeshwari temple here.
Revenue of temple has reduced by over 35 p.c. and the number of devotees has declined by 40 p.c.
