A separate meeting will be held after the budget session to solve temple issues : CM

Various demands presented to the Chief Minister by ‘Maharashtra Mandir Mahasangh’

**(From left) Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Acharya Sudhirdasji Maharaj and Mr Sunil Ghanwat**

Mumbai – Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has promised to hold a separate meeting after the end of the budget session of concerned officials, temple trustees and priests to solve various problems faced by all the temples. The CM said this during a meeting of temple trustees held at Vidhan Bhavan. The Chief Minister took serious note of the demands, reported Mr Sunil Ghanwat (Coordinator of ‘Maharashtra Mandir Mahasangh’ and Organiser of ‘Hindu Janajagruti Samiti’ for Maharashtra).

During the Maharashtra Mandir Nyas Parishad held at Jalgaon on 4^th and 5^th February 2023, various resolutions had been unanimously passed for the conservation and protection of temples. The temple trustees submitted all the resolutions to the Chief Minister and requested him to take appropriate action at the earliest possible.

Large-scale corruption has been going on in temples that have been taken over by the Government, such as Shri Tuljabhavani Temple Sansthan at Tuljapur, Shri Mahalakshmi Devasthan at Kolhapur, Shri Vitthal-Rukmini Temple at Pandharpur, Shri Saibaba Sansthan at Shirdi, Shri Siddhivinayak Mandir at Mumbai, and Government investigation is also going on. Besides, all the temples where an Administrator or a Judge has been appointed should be returned to Hindus; an independent authority should be established in this regard. A statement of such demands was handed over to the Chief Minister.

Various demands submitted to the Chief Minister

The following 9 demands have been made in the resolutions submitted to the Chief Minister.

1. Government of Maharashtra should comply with the Court orders by freeing the temples under its control, 2. The State Government should declare that temple properties will not be used for development purposes, 3. Substantial provision should be made for immediate restoration of temples that are ancient or have historical importance, and have been neglected by the Administration and Archaeological Department, 4. Encroachments at pilgrimage centres and temples on forts in the State should be surveyed and removed immediately, 5. Since the income of temple priests is negligible, the Government should pay them a monthly salary, 6. To protect the sanctity of temples and pilgrimage centres, the Government should issue a notification that liquor and meat cannot be sold near them, 7. Class ‘C’ temples in
the State that have proper documents should immediately be classified as Class ‘B’, 8. Orders should not be sent by the Charity Commissioners to temples to make donations for social causes and temple funds should preferably be used for religious purposes only, 9. Among the Ashtavinayaka temples in Lenyadri, people are charged by the Archaeology Survey of India when they visit Shri Lenyadri Ganapati Mandir – this should be stopped immediately.

Do not appoint administrators and judges to temple committees in the State : Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Shrimahant Sudhirdasji Maharaj

Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Shrimahant Sudhirdasji Maharaj said, “Administrators and Judges should not be appointed to temple committees. The system adopted in Uttar Pradesh should now be adopted in Maharashtra to resolve the issues between priests and trustees. We also demand that the Maharashtra Government adopt the system as in Uttar Pradesh to pay salaries to the temple priests”.