Gold Ornaments of Temples Should be Kept in Bank Lockers – SP Borase
Mangaluru: Deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim held a meeting with the temple administration at the DC office here on July 19.
Addressing the administrative representatives of various temples, DC Ibrahim said that during the previous meeting we had discussed installing CCTV cameras, keeping the Temple gold ornaments in bank lockers, appointing security guards for the temples and to form temple committees.
The income of temples more than Rs 25 lakh come under category A, from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh under category B and below Rs 5 lakh under category C.
ADC Kumar said that under category A there are 40 temples out of which only 6 have formed committees, in category B 10 temples have formed committees and in category C only 20 have formed committees since their income is less.
Safety of the Temples:
Regarding the safety of the temples, 4 meetings had been called and the temple authorities were informed to appoint security guards for the safety of the visitors as well as to avoid theft in the temple. It was also mentioned in the meeting to fix uniform salary to the security guards.
The temple authorities said that already the report has been sent to the government to fix the salary, once the government takes the decision of fixing the salary we will appoint security guards.
Auditing in Temples:
Vedamurthy Achar has been appointed as the auditor. The temple administration can do the auditing with the nationalized banks. Temples, where auditing has not been done, will be served notices.
DC Ibrahim advised the temple authorities to do the auditing without fail because when their tenure completes and the accounts statement does not tally, they will be blamed by the people. Temple authorities should be responsible and accountable.
ADC Kumar also said that temples do not follow the guidelines set by the government during the auction of the temple stalls which incurs a huge loss for the state government. During an auction, the temple authorities do not follow the roster system which should be strictly followed. According to the guidelines, the valuation of the stalls should be done by the PWD. But during the auction, the temples authorities auction the stalls without following the guidelines. Once the agreement of a stall expires, an auction should be done.
While booking marriage halls, guidelines are not followed and a register is also not maintained. While booking the marriage hall the consent from both the parties is a must. To avoid child marriages age certificate of the bride should be collected during a marriage.
SP Bhushan said that there are a number of thefts reported in Temples in the district. It is not advisable to keep gold ornaments in the temples, instead, the gold ornaments should be kept in bank lockers for safety. Since gold ornaments are used only once a year, keeping all the gold in the temple is very risky. whenever there is a need for gold ornaments, they should be brought from the bank lockers.
He also advised the temple authorities to install a burglar alarm system with an independent Battery. The cost of the burglar is around Rs 10,000. He also said that if a temple installs CCTV cameras, the same number of dummy cameras should also be installed for more safety. CCTV cameras should not be installed against lights since the face of the person will not be visible clearly. Any person before committing the crime will survey the place. He also suggested emptying the offering box once every 15 days or earlier depending on the collection of offerings.
Basic Facilities
Where the income of the temple is above Rs 1 crore, basic facilities for the devotees should be provided, in this regard the temple should submit a master plan. The budget for such temples should be approved by March 31 every year, so far only 17 temples out of the 40 under category A have submitted their budget for the year 2016-17.
DCP L&O Shantharaju and others were also present.
