Small gold ornaments offered by devotees to various temples in Tamil Nadu will be monetised by melting and converting them into gold bars. The gold bars will then be deposited in nationalised banks, thereby generating revenue for the temple in the form of interest.
The scheme, which is being opposed by many groups that claim to fight for freeing temples from government control, was relaunched by Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday. Stalin inaugurated the scheme to monetise small gold ornaments in three temples in Thiruverkadu in Chennai, Samayapuram in Tiruchirappalli, and Irukankudi in Virudhunagar district via video conferencing.
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department said the gold ornaments which are donated to temples by devotees in the last ten years have been lying idle. The government will monetise them by converting the gold ornaments into gold bars and depositing them in banks that would generate revenue for the temple which can be used for various development purposes.
“The government has divided the state into three zones – Chennai, Madurai, and Tiruchirappalli – and has appointed retired judges for overseeing the process of monetisation. The entire proceedings of monetisation will be video graphed,” the HR & CE department said in a statement.
The statement added that while small ornaments are used for the gold monetisation scheme, the big ornaments will continue to be in the possession of the respective temples for use during festivals and other occasions.
The move by the government, though not new, invited opposition from several groups, some of which went to the Madras High Court challenging the HR & CE department’s notification on the gold monetisation scheme.
In the court, the Tamil Nadu government strongly defended the scheme saying it has been in practice since 1977 where small gold ornaments were offered as gifts by devotees to the Lord Murugan Temple in Palani, Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur, and Mariamman Temple in Samayapuram were converted into gold bars.
The gold bars weighing more than 500 kg are under deposit in various nationalised banks, the government told the court on Tuesday.
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