SJTA Calls For Bidding To Deposit Sri Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund

Puri: The Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has invited tender from 10 nationalised banks for keeping corpus fund amounting to Rs 11 crore of the shrine as fixed deposit. The bidding will be held on January 21.

The temple administration has decided to prioritise the banks who will quote maximum rate of interest during the bidding process, temple administrator (Development) Ajay Jena said.

"We have invited 10 public Sector banks to take part in the bidding process on January 21. No private bank has been called. The bank that will agree to give the highest rate of interest will be declared as the top bidder. The funds will be kept in that bank only, following the approval of sub-committee (finance)," Jena added.

The corpus funds include Rs 2 crore as part of compensation given by Odisha Health department over accusation of temple land for the Sri Jagannath Medical College and Hospital.

The temple authorities have kept Rs 102 crore in the State Bank of India after withdrawal of Rs 592 crore from Yes Bank. Similarly, 259.19 crore has been kept in Bank of Baroda and Union Bank as fixed deposit. Temple fund of Rs 231.31 crore has also been kept in these banks as fixed deposit.

These two banks had emerged highest bidder in the tender process last year and agreed to give maximum rate of interest. Union Bank had offered 6.20% interest while Bank of Baroda had quoted 6.15 per cent annual interest.

Earlier, private banks used to take part in the bidding process. Now, only government banks are allowed to take part, sources said.