'Free temple administration from party control'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 23. The representatives of ashrams and Hindu organisations of Kerala have urged the Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, to release temple administration from the control of political parties and hand it over to an independent devaswom board with due representation to devotees.

A delegation led by the chairman of the Hindu Aikya Vedi, Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi, called on the Chief Minister and submitted a memorandum in this connection today. It said the very existence of temples was in danger because of the corruption, lavishness and incompetence of the devaswom boards.

It also demanded the exclusion of Hindu ashrams, maths, hospitals and schools from the purview of the devaswom law. The members of the delegation said that the devaswom boards were doing nothing for the moral and spiritual uplift of the Hindus. They were at the same time spending crores of rupees on unnecessary construction work. The Travancore Devaswom Board, for instance, gave contract for construction work costing Rs. 80 crores during the last 10 months when it had no surplus fund for the purpose. Vigilance cases were on in seven cases and two public interest litigations were before the High Court against the office-bearers of the board. They urged the Chief Minister to keep those who were under a cloud out of office. Many former members of the Guruvayoor Devaswom were also facing vigilance probes.

Majority of the temples in the Malabar area were facing crisis. Their employees were being paid very poorly. The existing system of temple administration was outdated and against the interests of the temples. The High Court had in 1994 and the K.P. Sankaran Nair Commission had in 1983 called for ridding temples of politics. They contended that it was a violation of civil rights to deny the Hindus of their freedom to administer their places of worship when the other religious sections enjoyed the right.

They called for extending the salary and service conditions of the employees of the Travancore and Kochi Devaswom Boards to the temple employees of the Malabar area who were being paid only a pittance now. They asked the Government to take into consideration only the will of Sri Narayana Guru while taking a decision on the future of the Sivagiri Madhom. They charged the previous Government with having taken over the Madhom unilaterally ignoring the Guru's wishes as stated in the will. They asked the Government to take steps for conducting elections in a free and fair manner at Sivagiri.

They wanted a masterplan to be implemented without affecting the environment for improving the facilities for pilgrims at Sabarimala.

They conveyed their concern and indignation at the Hurriyat leaders' proposed visit to Kerala to the Chief Minister. They felt that the visit of the leaders of an organisation which was responsible for killing the Amarnath pilgrims and the destruction of several temples and which was still continuing its attacks on the Hindus of Kashmir would only worsen the situation in Kerala. They felt that the visit was not advisable when tension prevailed in places like Nadapuram and Kasaragod. They urged the Chief Minister not to allow them to visit the State.

The other members of the delegation were Swami Prajnamrithanandapuri, Mr. Kummanam Rajasekharan, Mr. J. Sisupalan and Mr. P.N. Gopalakrishnan.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Govt. for OECF project: Antony
Next     : SSLC examinations from March 6