Govt in overdrive to take over temples

Administration of these temples are now in the hands of government appointees instead of private trustees.

Vyas stated that the state government,till January 2012,had administrative control over 244 major temples in 16 districts,which were now being managed by government-appointed administrators.

As per official records,Vadodara district has the highest number of temples (82) which are controlled and administered by the government. Following Vadodara are Narmada district (47) and Kutch (27).

In 2011,the state government also took control of the famous Becharaji temple in Mehsana district from where Chief Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his Swami Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra early this month. The rest of the temples taken over last year are in Anand district.

The state government at present controls 13 temples in Gandhinagar district,13 in Valsad district,eight in Rajkot district,16 in Porbandar district,four of Surat district and one temple each in Junagadh,Surendranagar,Jamnagar,Mehsana and Banaskantha districts. Of these,Somnath,Dwarka and Ambaji temples alone reported annual revenues totalling nearly Rs 34 crore in 2011-12.

As per official figures of the state tourism department,the annual income of the famous temple of Dwarka in Jamnagar district in 2009-10,2010-11 and 2011-12 was Rs 3.86 crore,Rs 4.23 crore and Rs 4.97 crore,respectively. Ambaji temple in Banasakantha district,where Modi celebrated his birthday this year,saw its revenue steadily increase from Rs 9.46 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 20 crore in 2011-12. Somnath in Junagadh district reported revenues of Rs 8.40 crore in 2008-09,Rs 12.52 crore in 2010-11 and approximately Rs 8.14 crore in 2011-12.

In his written reply to the MLA’s question,Vyas said the state government “appoints administrators in the historically important temples of the state for responsible accounting of income from donations and expenses and to make the administration of these temples more effective to provide better services to the devotees and tourists”.

An influential trustee of a famous government-controlled temple said the state government interfered only in case of temples from where irregularities were reported.