Demonetisation of two high value currency notes (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000) by the government on November 8 midnight has not only affected man in the street but also the almighty to whom he runs to for protection from unwanted events, with various places of worships across the nation scrambling to minimise the fallout.
Such is the situation that even big temples, known for high value donations, are forced to reject scrapped banknotes.
Said Narendra Murari Rane, chairman of the Shri Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, “Devotees donate in two ways. Some put the cash in danpeti (donation box), others pay at the counter for various religious activities and take a receipt. Since the government has not given us any exemptions, we cannot accept old notes.”
The move has also hit donations in a big way at most places of worship. “On normal days, we used to get Rs 1.25 lakh donation against receipts. But it declined to Rs 29,000, Rs 24,000 and Rs 25,000 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively,” said Murari Rane.
On the people slipping banned notes into donation boxes, he said the temple couldnt stop that. “The collected cash will be deposited in bank. We will know of amount in the danpeti on Wednesday as Monday is a bank holiday and Tuesday is a busy day for the temple,” Rane said. In Maharashtra, the charity department was compelled to seal donation boxes in all temples across eight districts of the state till December 31 to prevent inflow of black money, that too in banned notes, into donation boxes. All donation boxes would be opened under supervision on December 31, and after calculating the cash, a report would be submitted to the state department, a charity department official in Aurangabad said.
In Amritsar, the Golden Temple authorities said on Thursday they wouldn’t accept banned notes from devotees. However, he said we can’t stop them from putting the banned currency notes into the golak.
In Tamil Nadu, temples were forced to open hundis early and get the cash in them exchanged. According to an official of the department that manages religious places in the state, hundis at the six temples of Lord Murugan, which attracts a large number of national and international devotees, would be opened early to detect and dispose off banned notes. Source: mydigitalfc.com
