Idol Wing CID will be strengthened, says Minister

Government will construct strongrooms in temples to prevent idol thefts, says Sekarbabu

Additional security: The strongroom built recently at the Puliyur temple in Chennai.

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister P.K. Sekarbabu on Thursday said the government had taken steps to strengthen the Idol Wing CID to prevent thefts in temples.

“We have identified idols smuggled to foreign countries and taken steps to bring them back with the help of the Centre,” he told reporters before a review meeting with joint commissioners, assistant commissioners and regional commissioners.

Mr. Sekarbabu said the DMK government was committed to protecting the idols and would create strongrooms across the State.

“Though the AIADMK government announced 3,087 strongrooms, there was no progress in the work. We have completed the work in Puliyur in Chennai and Pandanallur and set up similar strong rooms in other temples. The government has allotted ₹308.70 crore for the project and these rooms will prevent idol theft,” he said.

The Minister also announced that all the temple tanks would be renovated. “We have divided the temple tanks into two categories: tanks that need immediate attention and tanks that can be renovated in a phased manner. In the current year we have decided to renovate 40 tanks. Soon tenders will be called for the works,” he said. He said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had allotted ₹100 crore for renovating tanks, flower gardens and temple cars and the department was inspecting over 1,000 temple tanks. “In Madhavaram, we have decided to create a new tank for the Kailasanathar temple. I inspected the Siruvapuri Murugan temple along with the commissioner. The steps of the temples are in bad shape and they would be repaired at a cost of ₹2.42 crore,” he said.

Fund allocation

Asked why small temples had not been given adequate attention, he said ever since the DMK government came to power, the Chief Minister had increased the allocation for temples in villages to ₹2 lakh from ₹1 lakh.

“Similarly, the fund for temples in Adi Drvaidar settlements have also been increased to ₹2 lakh. The salary for the priests of temples covered under ‘oru kaala pujai’ has been increased to ₹1,000,” he said.