Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 22: The coronavirus pandemic that has hit the economies hard has also left a deep impact on the revenues of temples in Karnataka. The rich temples in the state have been able to collect only a small portion of what they had done last year.

The state muzrai department has 34,556 temples under its control. Temples with an annual income of over Rs 25 lac have been considered as A category temples. These temples have collected only a fraction of their last year's figure so far.

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The temples which had been closed down during the last week of March were permitted to open for public with restrictions in August. Because of restrictions of age, crowd etc and reduced number of services being offered at the temples, only a few devotees have been visiting the temples. As a result, there has been a deep dent in their incomes.

The 20 top temples in the state have registered a huge deficit in their incomes. The department is finding it hard to provide funds for the maintenance of B and C category temples, it is learnt.

Kukke Subrahmanya temple has collected only Rs 4.28 crore so far as compared to Rs 100 crore last year. Kollur Goddess Mookambika temple's income has slumped to Rs 4.51 crore from the previous figure of Rs 50 crore. Chamundeshwari temple at Mysuru has got only Rs 74 lac as income this year, a huge fall from the previous year's Rs 35 crore. Kateel temple has collected Rs 1.05 crore as against Rs 25 crore last year. Similar is the situation in respect of other temples.

Muzrai minister, Kota Srinivas Poojary. said that the temples have opened doors after the lockdown, but the number of devotees visiting the temples has fallen steeply. He expected a shortfall of 40 per cent in the annual income of temples this time.