- By Shubham Bajpai
- Fri, 18 Apr 2025 09:42 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday informed that over 1,000 kg of gold articles offered by devotees to 21 temples across the state were lying unused and hence were melted and converted to 24-carat bars and deposited in banks. The investment in gold bars generated an annual interest of Rs 17.81 crore, the government added.
The gold bars were invested in the State Bank of India under the Gold Investment Scheme after unused article offerings were melted in the government mint in Mumbai.
A policy note on the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department was tabled in the Assembly by Minister PK Sekar Babu, who holds the portfolio. The note read, "The interest accrued from the investment is used for the development of the temples concerned."
Meanwhile, three committees for three regions in the state have also been constituted under the retired judges to oversee the implementation of the scheme.
Providing further details, the note read, "10,74,123.488 pure gold obtained in grams from 21 temples fetched Rs 1,781.25 lakh as interest accruing per year determined according to the value of gold at the time of investment."
Over 40 per cent gold form Arulmigu Mariamman Temple
Among the temples, the maximum amount of gold was fetched from the Arulmigu Mariamman Temple in Samayapuram, Tiruchirappalli district. The government took about 424.26 kg of gold for the scheme.
Permission has been granted to melt the ‘unused and unusable’ silver items in the temples under the control of the HR&CE Department into pure silver bars by the government-approved private silver smelting companies on the premises of the temples in the presence of zonal committees headed by three judges.
The note said, "Accordingly, steps are currently being taken to melt the unused silver items in the temples."
