Tamil Nadu government on Friday launched a call centre to exclusively receive complaints or suggestions from devotees on issues related to temples that come under its control.
The call centre will be run by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department at its headquarters in Chennai.
HR & CE Minister P K Sekarbabu said devotees can register their complaints or suggestions on the functioning of temples with the call centre from 10 am to 6 pm on all working days.
This is yet another initiative by the department to ensure transparency in temple functioning and administration. The department has begun uploading documents of land belonging to temples and is planning to conduct drone surveys on temple lands to generate 3D maps.
Sekarbabu said devotees can register all their complaints to the call centre and that they will receive a response within 15 days on the status of their concern.
As many as 44,121 temples in Tamil Nadu come under the HR & CE department which manages and controls them.
The decision to be transparent on temple properties, revenue, and documents comes at a time when a campaign is underway in Tamil Nadu to free temples from the control of the government.
The campaign run by Coimbatore-based spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev has received support from BJP and a few right-wing political outfits.
The slew of decisions by the new DMK government also comes close on the heels of Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan launching a tirade on Vasudev, calling him a “publicity hound” and dismissed the campaign.
Published 25 June 2021, 16:58 IST