Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Wednesday chalked out plans to bump up the corpus fund of the temple to Rs 1,000 crore by 2023.
The SJTA realised that meager earnings from bank interest alone may not suffice the need to meet expenses of the Jagannath temple. Out of the box measures like putting up hundis (donation boxes) at the airports, railway stations and other important places will be taken up, the SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar informed.
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However, this decision came after a meeting of the finance sub-committee chaired by the Chief Administrator.
According to an official source, a budgetary provision of around Rs 202 crore for FY 2021-22 has been approved in the meeting for the temple. The proposal will be tabled before the Jagannath temple management committee for its approval in the next meeting.
“We are planning to generate revenues of around Rs 10 crore in the current year by granting stone quarry leases. Srimandir has a corpus fund of over Rs 650 crore. We have planned to enhance the amount to Rs 750 crore in the next year and set a target to augment the amount to Rs 1,000 crore by 2023,” the SJTA chief said.
The SJTA recommended setting up a ‘servitor welfare fund’ which will allocate Rs 5 crore every year for the purpose of exigent assistance to servitors. The fund will be kept as fixed deposit, the interest of which will be spent for welfare of servitors, the SJTA chief added.
PNN
