Kollur Mookambika Temple administration denies claims that its revenue is used for Shaadi Bhagya scheme, Haj pilgrimage

The car festival that was held at Kollur Mookambika Temple on the occasion of Dasara on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: UMESH S. SHETTIGAR

Denying claims that offerings dropped at hundis of Kollur Mookambika Temple are being spent for the Shaadi Bhagya scheme and the Haj pilgrimage, the temple administration has said that it now has over ₹190.36 crore in its kitty as fixed deposits.

The temple is among those with a high footfall in the coastal belt.

Babu Shetty Taggarse, president of the managing committee, and Prashanth Shetty, executive officer, of the temple said in a release that some people are spreading false information through social media that the State government earns annual revenue of ₹31.44 crore from the temple.

In that only ₹68,000 was being spent by the temple, and the remaining was being spent for the Shaadi Bhagya scheme and for devotees on the Haj pilgrimage. Hence devotees visiting the temple should stop dropping money into the hundis, according to the social media posts. .

Mr. Taggarse and Mr. Shetty said that the revenue and the expenditure of the temple during 2021-22 was ₹31.36 crore and ₹22.86 crore, respectively. These rose to ₹59.47 crore and ₹33.32 crore, respectively, during 2022-23. If the temple earned ₹58.23 crore revenue during 2023-24, the expenditure on the same financial year was ₹41.63 crore.

The expenditure covered money spent on daily mass feeding, salaries of employees, maintenance of infrastructure facilities, expenses on preparing ‘prasada’, salaries of employees at educational institutes managed by the temple, maintenance of educational institutes, transport expenses, and money spent on development projects. They said the temple keeps revenue money in fixed deposits in banks.

The temple revenue is spent on development projects and other programmes with the approval of the government. Information on social media is far from the truth and devotees should not believe it, they said.

The managing committee is also thinking of exploring legal action against those posting misleading information about the temple’s revenue on social media and it will seek legal advice on the same, they added.