Volume 15 | Issue 22
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Govt department rakes in crores, neglects temples Oindrila Sarkar The government department responsible for Hindu temples in the state has no accounting procedures and doesn’t know how much land they hold. Crores of rupees donated annually to temples in Karnataka is handed over to the said department. . The Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department also known as the Muzrai Department of Karnataka has 35,000 temples under its control which are governed by a legislation. According to the Hindu religious institutions and charitable endowments act, 1997, the state government is responsible for the upkeep and revenue of temple property which falls under the Muzrai department. According to the law, control, supervision and administration of Hindu religious institutions in the state is its responsibility so that temple lands, both movable and immovable property could not be misused or misappropriated. The maximum revenue generating temples in the state are categorised as under ‘A’ and ‘B’ category temples.
According to reports of the Muzrai department, in the year 2014-2015, the 160 ‘A’ category temples in the state collectively generated a declared revenue income of three hundred and forty four crores, four lakhs and twenty nine thousand rupees. The 154 ‘B’ category temples recorded total revenue income of twenty five crores, sixty two lakhs and thirty three thousand rupees. Murari, who lives in the ashram of the Gavigangadhareshwara temple in Hanumanth Nagar, Bangalore, said: “There are pundits (priests) in the Agama section of the Muzrai Department who hold a lot of clout. There is a lot of dirty politics that goes on when it comes to deciding on what amount of temple money should or should not be spent. Most of the temples have acres of land, jewellery and gold which are all under government control.” When asked whether the money earned by the temple was being spent on it, Murari said, “ Not even a fraction of that money is used for maintaining the temple. After many years they have now decided to paint the exterior walls of the
Banashankari Temple, Bangalore Gavigangadhareshwara temple. Most of us who live in the ashram and are dependent upon the money which people donate to the temples barely manage to live while there is a small group of privileged and powerful people who have been instituted in the temples by the department. They are the ones running the show and making money out of temple property.” “Temple lands are also disappearing yet the department has no records of the land that
they are supposed to be in charge of.” He concluded. Magdalina Nalina, who heads the Muzrai Department said, “Land surveys have not been completed. We still do not know exactly how much land we hold from the temples in the whole of Karnataka.” When asked about the records on expenditure for the revenue generated in the past three years, she said, “ Such critical details cannot be given, the trusts of every temple in the districts will have them.”
BRIEFS Page 2 They were promised a roof over their heads. After 15 years all they have is a staircase Gulbarga colony, near Jayanagar, Bangalore is home to people who fled the devastating drought that hit KarnatakaHyderabad in the 1970s Page 3 Apartment block sank six inches during metro work, residents warned to stay away A three storey building sitting above a tunnel being dug for the city’s metro has subsided by six inches and its owner is still fighting for compensation
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RaGa calls for compensation over Hyderabad University suicide Payal Gangishetty
Rahul Gandhi addressing the protesters in HCU
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the Hyderabad Central University campus to show solidarity with the students grieving and protesting over the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit PhD student. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor were named in an FIR on monday over the alleged suicide of the Dalit student. “It is important that there is legislation in near future that gives Indian students bare minimum rights regardless of their caste or religion,” said Rahul Gandhi , speaking at the protest. He added, “Rohith was not alone, and this happening in almost all the big universities. Strict punishment should be
imposed on people responsible for his death.” Hanumanth Rao, Congress MP who was present on campus during the protest said, “ The plight of Dalit students should not be ignored, the rights should be secured.” Students submitted a petition to Mr. Gandhi asking him to support their demands including cancellation of the current VC’s term. “Mr.Gandhi has blamed the central government for imposing regulations on universities. Responding to the demands of the students, he asked the authority to release a 5 crore compensation to the family of the deceased,” said, Anwar Chicharito, a member of Joint Action Committe for Social Justice. According to the sources, Arvind Kijriwal and BSP chief Mayawati are expected to visit UoH campus tomorrow.
Karaga festival fund to be scrutinized Funding for an annual state festival is at the centre of a government investigation Page 4 We are not landgrabbers, say realtors Failure of government authorities leading to contamination of lakes