Pandemic leaves endowment temples in Karnataka 35% poorer

MANGALURU: Lockdown 1.0-4.0 has pared revenues that department of religious endowment gets from 35000-odd temples under it by nearly 35%. While this was back of the envelope calculation that minister for religious endowment Kota Shrinivas Poojari made based on past earnings of 205 A grade temples, the major revenue earners, department per se has not made any official estimate of the same, avers Rohini Sindhuri, department commissioner.
While the department has some 35000-odd temples under it across Karnataka, major source of revenue comes from 205 A grade temples and around 250 B grade temples. Barring Kukke Sri Subrahmanya Temple that grossed Rs 98.92 crore revenue despite natural calamity and lockdown, other temples have not kept pace with their previous year’s earnings, Poojari told TOI. Kukke temple incidentally is the highest revenue earning temple in the state.
What hurt prospects of department temples is the fact that the lockdown came at a time when influx to the temples during the summer vacation was about to start. “Most devotees start temple hopping during the summer and this intensity tapers off once the monsoon sets in,” he said, adding all temples with the department put together earn around Rs 600 crore annually. “But for the lockdown, Kukke would have grossed more than Rs 100 crore,” he said.
Noting that revenue that endowment temples earn fluctuates generally, Rohini said it is true expected hundi collection during the otherwise busy summer season has dwindled drastically. “We are not in a position to compute earnings of all the temples and earnings and losses thereof are generally rough estimates at best,” Rohini told TOI. No monthly accounts are maintained for temples under the department for it is accounted annually, she explained.
Out of 205-odd A grade temples, around 10-20 of these temples such as Kukke Subrahmanya temple bring in bulk of the revenue through various sevas and hundi collections. Rohini said loss deduction was made on revenue the temples earned last year. If the numbers (revenue) were to be the same this year, the extent of dip in earnings was arrived at she said adding earnings of most A grade temples have usually grown with each passing year.