Improper to question accountability of Ayodhya temple fund collection drive: Pejavar seer

The Pejawar Math seer Vishwaprasanna Teertha, who is a trustee of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said on Saturday that it was improper for people to question the accountability of the temple fund collection when the drive was still underway.

"It is inappropriate to say at this stage when the drive is underway. The process has to complete first," the seer said at the launch of an art installation of the Ram Temple with Lord Ram prepared using coins of Rs 5 and Re 1 of more than Rs 2 lakh.

A Hindu outfit Rashtradharma Organisation set up the installation at Lal Bagh West.

Six Chitrakala Parishath students Raghu Vodeyar, Manjunath, Fayaz, Zilal, Suyash and Puneeth prepared it.

To a question on a few leaders calling the money collection drive a loot, he said loot is when someone steals money donated to temples and not when money is collected for a noble cause of temple construction.

The seer rubbished former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's charge that houses, where money was not donated, were marked in some parts of the state.

"On some occasions when the fund collection team found their receipt books exhausted, where there were people calling them to donate money, their houses were marked as a reminder that the fund has to be collected from there," he said.

Earlier, addressing the gathering at the launch of the art installation, he said Rs 2,100 crore has been collected from across the country for the temple construction at Ayodhya and the collection may touch around Rs 2,500 crore.