Temples in Himachal teeming with money, gold & silver

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 29

The 34 temples controlled by the state government are full with crores of rupees, several tonnes of gold and silver, besides huge bank deposits. The Chintpurni temple in Una district is the richest among them with cash of Rs 1.57 crore and fixed deposits worth Rs 102 crore, besides 1.98 qunitals of gold and 71.42 quintals of silver.

The details of the offerings at the 34 temples governed by the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2018 were placed in the Vidhan Sabha in response to a question by Mukesh Agnihotri, Leader of the Opposition.

Though 35 temples are under the government control, there is a court case pending regarding Shri Sadadshiv Mahadev Temple at Dhiunsar in Sirmaur district. The 34 temples are nine in Kangra district, eight in Shimla, four in Bilaspur, three in Mandi, two each in Sirmaur, Chamba, Hamirpur and Una, and one each in Solan and Lahaul and Spiti. The responsibility of the upkeep and maintenance of these temples, besides the creation of facilities and better infrastructure is with the temple trusts and the money received from offerings is used for the purpose.

The richest temple in the state is at Chintpurni — it has cash of Rs 1.57 crore, fixed deposits of Rs 102 crore, 1.98 quintals of gold and 71.42 quintals of silver.

The second richest is the Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur with cash offerings to the tune of Rs 11.47 crore and fixed deposits worth Rs 58.97 crore. The temple, located atop a hill, has 1.80 quintals of gold and 72.92 quintals of silver offered by the pilgrims. It is followed by Baba Balak Nath Temple in Hamirpur, which has cash of Rs 16.66 crore, fixed deposits worth Rs 28.45 crore, 26.649 kg of gold and 3.82 quintals of silver.

The fourth richest one is the Jwalamukhi temple in Kangra with Rs 3.42 crore offering in cash, fixed deposits of Rs 20.80 crore, 23.278 kg of gold and 8.90 quintals of silver. The Chamunda temple in Kangra has cash of Rs 1.48 crore and fixed deposits of Rs 5.50 crore, besides 18.497 kg of gold and 6.88 quintals of silver. The Brajeshwari temple in Kangra town has cash of Rs 1.48 crore, fixed deposits of Rs 3.54 crore, besides 33.45 kg of gold and 10.97 quintals of silver.

In Shimla district, the Tara Devi temple has cash offerings of Rs 3.50 crore, Hatkoti in Jubbal of Rs 2.33 crore and the Jakhu temple of Rs 1.34 crore cash.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.