Tamil Nadu : 2,000 kilo gold ornaments to be melted

Interest earned from gold deposited in Banks will be used for providing basic amenities in temples : Claims Minister

Editorial comments

• What else is expected when anti-Hindu DMK (Dravid Munnetra Kalagham i.e. Dravid Pragati Sangh) is in power in Tamil Nadu ? Only Hindus’ Saints and ‘Dharmadhikari’ have the right to decide what is to be done with the ornaments offered in temples, but such anti-Hindu decision is being taken because temples are managed by the Government.
• Why doesn’t the secular Government think of taking over the management of mosques and churches and use their money for the basic amenities ?   

PK Sekar Babu

Chennai – The State Government’s ‘Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE)’ Department will melt the small size gold ornaments offered by devotees in Hindu temples, into gold bars and deposit them in banks to raise funds for development projects and other welfare schemes for the temples. Three departmental committees headed by a retired High Court judge will be set up to supervise the entire procedure, informed PK Sekar Babu, the Minister of (HR and CE) Department recently during the Assembly session.

Tamil Nadu: Revenue from gold will be used to build temple infrastructure, says minister P K Sekar Babu https://t.co/ZUm2JWVpFv

— TOIChennai (@TOIChennai) September 5, 2021

Sekar Babu said that large quantities of such ornaments were just lying in the temple vaults over the past 10 years. Gems and precious stones from the ornaments will be removed before sending them to the Government-owned refinery in Mumbai for melting and converting into gold bars.

One of the senior officers from the Endowment Department said that about 2,000 kg. gold would be melted to make gold bars. The department had been doing this exercise from 1978 till 2010. It was discontinued by the AIADMK (Anna Dravid Munnetra Kalagham) Government. The officers, who are going to verify the stock of gold in the next two weeks, and their work will be recorded and shown on LED screens fixed in the temple premises. It will also be shown live on the website of this Department. The amount of interest earned on keeping the gold in the banks will be utilised for providing basic amenities to the devotees in the main temples.