Mangaluru, Nov 15: Nagarika Seva Trust, a Dakshina Kannada based social organization, has demanded the Karnataka government to takeover Sri Manjunatha Swamy temple at Dharmasthala to put an end to the misappropriation.
Addressing a press meet here, Ranjan Rao Yerdoor, the founder-trustee of the NST, said that “crores of rupees” given as donations to the temple went to a single family. To prevent this misappropriation, the temple should be brought under the Muzrai Department, he said.
He also pointed out that there have been numerous Supreme Court verdicts that showed that “private temples” such as Dharmasthala could be brought under the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act 1997 as a public temple.
He said that all the income incurred by the temple is going to a single family currently. By not taking action, the State government has allowed the temple to become a tool of feudal forces, he lamented.
The NST has written recently to State Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra and Commissioner of Department of Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments regarding their demand.
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