CHENNAI: Reviving the decades-old practice of monetising temple jewellery, the state HR & CE department has entered into an agreement with the State Bank of India to monetise more than 27 kg of gold ornaments offered by devotees to Irukkankudi Mariamman temple in Virudhunagar.
The jewellery was valued at 13crore.
Under this scheme, which was launched in 1979 and revived in recent months, the small pieces of jewellery would be melted and converted into 24-carat gold bars. They would be deposited into nationalised banks to generate revenue. The interest fetched from it would be utilised to carry out repair and renovation of temples.
As per the direction of the Madras high court, the department decided to roll out the initiative after temple trustees gave their consent. “We entered into an agreement with Sattur branch of SBI to monetise the gold jewellery and gold scraps of the Irukkankudi temple,” HR & CE commissioner J Kumaraguruabaran told TOI. The agreement was signed on Friday in the presence of HR & CE minister P K Sekar Babu and revenue minister K K S S R Ramachandran at the temple in Irukkankudi. “By monetising the jewellery, the temple will receive 34lakh per annum by way of interest,” said the minister.
Chennai: Reviving the decades-old practice of monetising temple jewellery, the state HR & CE department has entered into an agreement with the State Bank of India to monetise more than 27 kg of gold ornaments offered by devotees to Irukkankudi Mariamman temple in Virudhunagar. The jewellery was valued at 13crore.
Under this scheme, which was launched in 1979 and revived in recent months, the small pieces of jewellery would be melted and converted into 24-carat gold bars. They would be deposited into nationalised banks to generate revenue. The interest fetched from it would be utilised to carry out repair and renovation of temples.
As per the direction of the Madras high court, the department decided to roll out the initiative after temple trustees gave their consent. “We entered into an agreement with Sattur branch of SBI to monetise the gold jewellery and gold scraps of the Irukkankudi temple,” HR & CE commissioner J Kumaraguruabaran told TOI. The agreement was signed on Friday in the presence of HR & CE minister P K Sekar Babu and revenue minister K K S S R Ramachandran at the temple in Irukkankudi. “By monetising the jewellery, the temple will receive 34lakh per annum by way of interest,” said the minister.
The department would hand over the jewellery to the bank, which in turn, would take them to the government mint in Mumbai and convert them into gold bars. “Retired HC judge R Mala, along with two officials of the department, will travel to Mumbai where the gold jewellery will be melted either on April 6 or 7. It will be converted into bars and deposited in SBI reserve,” minister Sekar Babu told TOI.
“Nearly 94 kg of gold jewel of Periyapalayam Bhavani Amman temple will be monetised within two weeks,” the minister said. A similar process would be followed for the Mariamman temples in Thiruverkadu and Samayapuram after the appointment of the board of trustees.
Officials said nearly 500kg of gold jewellery from nine temples, including Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, Palani Dhanadayuthapani Swamy temple, Trichendur Subramaniya Swamy temple and Samayapuram Mariamman temple, had already been monetised under this scheme.
