PM Narendra Modi, L K Advani attend virtual meeting of Somnath Trust

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP veteran L K Advani on Wednesday evening attended a meeting of the Somnath Temple Trust through video link.

At the meeting, it was decided to reappoint former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel as chairman of the trust for one year, it said in a release.

Modi and Advani are among the trustees of the Shree Somnath Trust, which manages the famous Somnath Temple in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat.

Other trustees including J D Parmar,Harshvardhan Neotia and trustee-secretary P K Lahiri also attended the meeting, the release said.

Modi also tweeted about the meeting.

"Participated in the Shree Somnath Trust meeting via video conferencing. We discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to the Temple, including the exceptional community service by the Trust during these times and harnessing of technology to enable more devotees to pray," the PM said.

Lahiri said in the release that all the trustees agreed to reappoint Keshubhai Patel as chairman for one year.

"The trustees also approved audited accounts of the trust for the year 2019-20," he said.

The trust's assets grew from Rs 249.37 crore to 321.09 crore during the year. Against a revenue of 46.29 crore, the trust spent Rs 35.80 crore, said the release.

Trustees were informed that the temple had donated Rs 1 crore to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to fight coronavirus.

Modi suggested during the meeting that "Gau-lok Dham" and all the places in this region associated with Lord Krishna be developed, it added.