Will not hand over temple administration to devotees: CM

PAMBA: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan firmly rejected the demand from some quarters to hand over the administration of temples to devotees. Inaugurating the Global Ayyappa Summit in Pamba, he said the government had stepped in and formed Devaswom Boards at a time when temples were in decline, with no one to look after them.

“In earlier times, temples were in the hands of devotees. But when they reached a state of neglect, society itself demanded that the government intervene. That is how many temples were revived, and employees began to receive regular salaries,” the CM said.

He added that those calling for temples to be returned to devotees should clarify whether they want to take temples back to the days of distress.

The CM also dismissed as false the allegation that the government was taking away the revenue of the Devaswom Boards. “The government does not take even a single rupee. In fact, we provide funds to the Devaswom Board. That is why even temples with very little income are still functioning, with lamps lit and employees not left starving,” he said.

"During the COVID crisis in 2019, the government gave Rs 140 crore in financial aid to the Board, along with Rs 123 crore for renovation works," he added.

Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan presided over the function. Tamil Nadu Devaswom Minister P K Sekar Babu, IT Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, state ministers Veena George, Roshy Augustine, K Krishnankutty, A K Saseendran, Saji Cherian, MLAs K U Jineesh Kumar and Pramod Narayanan, former minister Kadakampally Surendran, Devaswom Board president P S Prasanth, SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, NSS representative M Sangeeth Kumar, Gokulam Group chairman Gokulam Gopalan, KPMS general secretary Punnala Sreekumar, senior tantri of Thazhamon Madam, Kandararu Mohanaru and his son tantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru, Vishwakarma Sabha representative K S Mohanan, Dalit Federation representative T Ramabhadran, and others spoke at the event.