Rameswaram temple in Tamil Nadu to get uplift of Rs 50 crore

Steps will also be taken to conserve the palm-leaf manuscripts collected from temples

Improvement of amenities at the famous Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, new wooden cars for 19 temples, repair and renovation of over half-a-dozen temple ponds, and free wedding to 600 couples. These are some of the announcements made by the Hindu Religious and Endowments (HR&CE) department on Wednesday during the presentation of Demands for Grants.

The government also extended the oru kala poojai (One pooja a day) scheme to 2,000 more temples at a cost of Rs 30 crore and announced that priests working in these temples will be provided with an incentive of Rs 1,000 per month. A new Priest Training School will be set up at Arulmigu Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu.

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HR&CE minister P K Sekarbabu said the government has allotted Rs 50 crore for improvement of amenities, including development works at Agni Theertham, in Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, which attracts thousands of devotees from across the country.

He also said new wooden cars will be made at 19 temples across the state at an outlay of 12 crore, while a shed for each temple car will be set up in 53 temples, at an estimated cost of Rs 10.25 crore.

The Minister said water bodies at Arulmigu Kallazhagar Temple, and Arulmigu Muniyandi Temple in Madurai, Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Chandramouleeswarar Temple and Arulmigu Kailasanathar Temple in Villupuram district will also be renovated.

Marriages to 600 couples will be conducted by providing gift hamper on behalf of the temples, with an average of 30 couples for each region, the minister said, adding that a corpus fund will be established to provide financial support every year for the higher studies of 400 children of priests working in temples under oru kala pooja scheme.

“An opportunity for the internship will be provided to persons who have completed their course in the Archakas Training Schools run by the temples, to gain work experience under Senior Archakas and they will be provided with a stipend of Rs 6,000 per month,” he said.

To conserve the palm-leaf manuscripts collected from temples and save the contents digitally by scanning and for the protection of the murals found in temples, a research centre will be formed at HR&CE headquarters at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore, Sekarbabu said.

He also said over 4,500 acres of properties worth around Rs 4,200 crores belonging to various temples managed by the HR&CE department have been recovered after assuming office in May 2021.

Data shared by the government in the Assembly said the HR&CE, since May 2021, has retrieved 4,502 acres of encroached temple lands worth Rs 4,236 crores. The lands were retrieved as part of a major drive launched by the government to clear temple lands of encroachment, to effectively bust a slew of campaigns that wanted the temples to be freed of government control, including the one launched by yoga guru Jaggi Vasudev.

As many as 44,121 temples in Tamil Nadu come under the HR&CE department which manages and controls them.