The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that only 20,204 small temples situated in villages and other rural areas and with an annual revenue below ₹10,000 had been opened for public worship despite the lockdown in force across the State to fight COVID-19.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha were told that 21,131 big as well as small temples situated in cities as well as rural areas remained closed.
The submission was made in response to a query raised by the High Court during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition.
Financial assistance
To another question from the court regarding additional financial assistance to employees of the closed temples, the HR&CE Commissioner said he had forwarded a proposal to the State government on July 22, and it was under consideration.
The PIL petition was filed by R.R. Gopaljee, publisher of Tamil daily Dinamalar (Tiruchi-Vellore editions) seeking financial assistance to all employees dependent on temples for their income without discriminating between those who had been engaged on payment of salaries and those who were dependent on offerings by the devotees.
