Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) P.K. Sekarbabu on Thursday handed over 130.6 kg of gold ornaments given as offerings by devotees to the Sri Bhavani Amman temple in Periyapalayam to officials of the State Bank of India.
The ornaments will be taken to the Reserve Bank of India mint in Mumbai, where they will be melted down to pure gold and deposited in the State Bank of India. The temple would get an interest of ₹1 crore a year from the gold deposit.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said the scheme to deposit gold given as offerings in temples was introduced in 1977. However, it was not implemented over the last 10 years. He said that recently, 27 kg of gold belonging to the Mariamman temple at Irukkangudi had been deposited with the bank, and the temple would get ₹24 lakh as interest a year from the deposit.
Secretary (HR&CE) B. Chandra Mohan, HR&CE Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran and retired Supreme Court judge D. Raju were also present on the occasion.
