Date:24/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/24/stories/2008082453860400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

State may seek help of NRIs for temples

Special Correspondent

A team of spiritual leaders to visit various countries
‘Rs. 3,000 crore needed to renovate all temples in State’

BANGALORE: If Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has already announced his intentions to play the rural development card at the convention of Association of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA) to be held in Chicago by appealing to the non-resident Indians (NRIs) to sponsor some development works in their native villages, Muzrai and Housing Minister B.N. Krishnaiah Shetty is gearing up to play the religious card.

A team headed by Mr. Shetty will appeal to the NRIs to sponsor the development works of any temples of their choice in the State. Of course such an appeal will not be confined to only Chicago. The Minister has decided to send a team of “spiritual personalities” to various countries, including Canada, U.K. and Australia.

The Minister told presspersons here on Saturday that he was yet to finalise the composition of the “spiritual” team. The Government would not pay the travel bills of such a team. Instead, the team itself would raise funds, he said. Mr. Shetty said the State needed Rs. 3,000 crore to provide a face-lift to 34,100 temples coming under the Muzrai Department.

Gokarna temple

The Minister had a tough time explaining the Government’s action of handing over the Gokarnanatha temple in Gokarna of Uttara Kannada district to the Shimoga-based Ramachandrapura Math for maintenance and administration.

Replying to a barrage of questions in this regard, the Minister said the Government would consider withdrawing the order regarding transfer of temple to the math if it failed to properly handle the temple affairs in the next two years. He could not provide a convincing reply on why the Ramachandrapura Math was chosen for the task.

To a question on whether it is constitutionally proper to hand over such public temples to maths, the Minister said the Government had sought legal opinion before taking the decision. Interestingly the Minister said the Maths and religious institutions were not private holdings and they were public-service institutions.

Mr. Shetty said as of now the Government did not have any new proposal regarding transfer of temples to Maths.

When asked if the Government would transfer Chamundi temple in Mysore to Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, Mr. Shetty said: “We cannot do it as Mr. Wodeyar is a politician like me. Instead of temple, we are ready to give him a parliamentary seat if he joins our party.”