CM Stalin presents gold bond of Rs 10 cr to Irukkankudi temple
The state government on Wednesday presented the maiden gold investment bond to an HR & CE run temple by monetising the unutilised gold received from devotees.
Chief Minister MK Stalin presented the gold investment bond for Rs 10 crore to the authorities of the Irukkankudi Mariamman Temple in Virudhunagar district at a function in the Secretariat.
The government had announced in the policy note for 2021-22 of HR & CE Department last year that a scheme would be implemented for monetising gold received by temples run by the dept. In the last ten years it was handled by melting such unutilised gold at the government refinery in Mumbai and depositing them as pure gold bars in names of temples in banks.
The state government had classified the state into three zones, Chennai, Tiruchy and Madurai and constituted audit committees headed by retired High Court and Supreme Court judges for the gold investment bond scheme.
Accordingly, committees headed by retired Supreme Court judge Duraisamy Raju, retired High Court judge K Ravichandra Babu and retired High Court judge R Mala were constituted for Tiruverkadu Devi Karumariamman Temple, Tiruchy Samayapuram Mariamman Temple and Irukkankudi Mariamman Temple in Madurai, respectively at the time of the launch of the scheme on October 13, 2021.
The committee of Irukkankudi Mariamman temple segregated 27,250.500 grams of gold on April 1, 2022, under the supervision of the judge. The gold was handed over to the manager of the Sattur branch of the State Bank of India. On April 18, the gold was converted into pure gold bars at the refinery in Mumbai in the presence of the concerned judge and officials.
On April 29, the bars were permanently deposited with the SBI bullion branch in Mumbai, a statement released by the government said. Putting the value of deposited gold bars at Rs 10 crore, the statement said that about Rs 23 lakh would be annually deposited in the account of the temple as interest towards the deposit.