Puri: Srimandir, the abode of Lord Jagannath in Puri, one of the oldest and arguably one of the richest shrines in the country, has reportedly received less amount of gold and silver ornaments as donation.
The financial audit reports of over the past three decades indicate that the temple has received considerable lesser amount of valuables like gold and silver as donation from devotees in comparison to some other famous shrines in the country.
An exclusive RTI report with OTV on the temple’s earnings has revealed that ever since donations were officially accepted at the shrine from 1983 after installation of ‘Hundi’ or donation boxes, the temple has received only 18 kg and 261 gm of gold worth nearly Rs 5.5 crore.
Similarly, the temple has also received 119 kg and 78 gm of silver ornaments as donations from the devotees in the past 34 years, said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration Public Relations Officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda.
However, the temple has a recorded considerable higher amount of cash currency donation during the same period which makes it one of the richest shrines in the country along with Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala and Tirumala Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
As per reports, the temple continues to get donation of Rs 7 to 8 crore rupees as cash on an annual basis.
Servitors, who are very much associated with the day to day functioning at the temple, are of the opinion that this would not have been the case had the government given importance to declaring the day-to-day donation of gold and silver just the same way that monetary donations are being informed to public.
Jagannath Swain Mohapatra, the Chief Servitor (Mukhya Badagrahi) of Lord Jagannath said, “People never get chance to see the details of gold and silver ornaments that they donate since it is never informed.”
“It is the duty of the government, the SJTA and the temple to spread the awareness so that devotees donate more gold and silver to the deities," said senior servitor Rajat Kumar Pratihari.