Kerala’s Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple discloses bank deposits, hand holdings
Kerala’s famous Sree Krishna Temple in Guruvayur declared its total assets including Rs.1,737 crore in bank deposits and 271 acres of land. As per the RTI reply given by the Guruvayur Devaswam Board, a body of the State government said the temple possesses bank deposits to the tune of Rs.1,737.04 crore and a land of 271.05 acres.
Though the temple also reportedly has an immense collection of gold, silver, and precious stones, received as offerings from devotees, the Board refused to divulge details and the value due to security reasons, it said. The centuries-old shrine, where Lord Vishnu is worshipped as Krishna, attracts thousands of people from across the country every year.
Details of the temple’s assets came to light following an RTI query filed by M K Haridas, a native of Guruvayur and president of an organization named “Proper Channel”. As per the RTI reply, given by the Guruvayur Devaswam, the temple has 271.0506 acres of land but its value is yet to be assessed by the management. The shrine has an amount of Rs.1737,04,90,961 as a deposit in various banks, it said as a reply to another question.
The Devaswom Board (temple management) informed that it has received no financial assistance to date after the Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power in 2016. It also made it clear that the shrine is yet to receive in return Rs.10 crore, which had been contributed by the Devaswom to the Chief Minister’s distress relief fund following the floods in 2018-19, despite a High Court order in this regard. The High Court had ordered the government to return the donation given by the Devswam Board, citing that money from temples can’t be used for such purposes.
The Board is running colleges, schools, and hospitals. Recently Tirupati Temple has declared its assets worth Rs.2.5 lakh crores, expected to be the highest assets of a Hindu Temple. The Lord Venkateswar Temple’s assets include 10.25 tonnes of gold deposits in banks, 2.5 tonnes of gold jewellery, about Rs.16,000 crore of deposits in banks, and 960 properties across India. All these total over Rs.2.5 lakh crore.[1]
Reference:
[1] With net worth of over Rs 2.5 lakh cr, Tirupati temple is richer than Wipro, Nestle, ONGC – Nov 09, 2022, ET
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