TN govt aims to conduct Kumbhabhishekham in 800 temples this yr

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government would take up the consecration of around 800 temples this year, taking the total number of temples consecrated to 2000 since the DMK came to power.

The department of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) had accomplished the task of renovating and conducting consecration to as many as 1,224 temples till date.

The government had given approval to conduct consecration to 40 more temples before the end of January month.

"Before the end of 2024, the department has been functioning to complete consecration to a total of 2,000 temples, " said the minister on Saturday.

The department has also identified as many as 717 ancient temples, which were more than 1000 years-old. The DMK's Dravidian Model government had allocated Rs 200 crore to renovate these ancient temples, while Rs 130 crore has been received as donors. With the funds, the department had taken renovation and restoration of around 100 ancient temples, the minister further said.

On expanding the online payment facility for various services to 260 temples, the minister said that the move aimed to do away with the manual payment mode and help the devotees make payments through online mode on the move for various services. It was part of the integrated temple management programme to simply and expedite the payment mode for various services in the temples.

In the first phase of the scheme, the department launched the online payment mode in 550 major temples, facilitating the devotees to make payment through internet banking, credit/debit cards or unified payment interface. Through this mode, devotees made payment to the tune of Rs 210 crore.

Since it received a good response among the devotees, the department has gradually extended the same to other temples. As many as 315 point of sale terminals have been distributed to zonal joint commissioners under the scheme.