Shri Vitthal-Rukmini Temple Committee’s executive officers accept the allegations of mismanagement

• The impact of Sanatan Prabhat’s reporting

• Mislead the journalists with incomplete information during the press conference

• Committed to rectify errors after convening with the trustees

Acceptance of chaotic governance

Pandharpur – Executive Officer Rajendra Shelke admitted to the mismanagement of the Shri Vitthal-Rukmini Temple Committee in a press conference, as exposed by the daily ‘Sanatan Prabhat’ earlier. Sanatan Prabhat has earlier reported the cover-up of fraud in Laddu Prasad, delay in building washroom facilities for devotees, wastage of temple funds on rents and the failure to record temple’s jewels properly in the balance sheet. Shelke assured that corrective measures are underway.

Mislead the journalists about temple jewellery records

Executive Officer Rajendra Shelke misled the journalists by providing incomplete information. He said, “No jewels were stolen. Their records exist, but not in the balance sheet. Valuation of the jewellery is required. Valuation requests were made two years earlier and reiterated last week to the Government”. In reality though, no such diligent record-keeping had taken place for decades. The temple committee initiated correspondence with the Government to cover up their mistakes after the audit report of 2021-22; however, Shelke obscured these details.

Wrong and misleading information regarding delay in constructing the washroom facilities

In the press conference, Rajendra Shelke gave wrong information that the construction of the devotees’ washroom facilities was postponed due to corridor work. The temple committee had entered a contract with the railway department in 2017 to build washroom facilities on railway land, well before the temple corridor issue arose in 2019-2020. This 35-year contract stipulated that the temple committee would pay Rs 1,54,46,041 to the railway department. Monthly payments of Rs 4,41,315 are being made to the railway department; however, these funds were effectively squandered as the construction of the washroom facilities was delayed for 4 years post-contract signing. Shelke conceded in the press conference that there was a 3 to 4- years delay in the construction of the washroom facilities, incurring continued rental costs, yet he failed to address the substantial financial loss incurred by the temple.

A waste of lakhs of rupees of the temple

No comment on the complaints about the quality of Laddus

Acknowledging the subpar quality of the prasad laddus without offering a concrete resolution, Shelke’s admission fell short of addressing the underlying issues. The contractor tasked with making the laddus used cottonseed oil instead of the advertised peanut oil and neglected to add the listed dry fruits. This dereliction of duty stems from the temple committee’s grievous oversight. While the committee reacted by superficially penalizing the wrongdoers through the confiscation of their deposit funds, they stopped short of taking legal recourse to hold the individuals accountable for deceiving the devotees.

Will travel to Mumbai in 2-3 days to meet the Secretary

Shelke announced plans to meet the Secretary of Law and Judiciary Department in Mumbai within the next 2-3 days to discuss actions based on the audit findings. The ongoing audit for 2022-23 will be thoroughly rectified, he assured.

Editorial Perspectives

• Devotees demand not just acknowledgement of mismanagement, but stringent action against those responsible.

• One cannot even imagine how the officials who mislead the journalists, would behave with the common citizens. The Government must take action against them.