Author: Manoj Nair
Publication: Mid Day
Date: January 6, 2004
URL: http://web.mid-day.com/1news/city/2004/january/73058.htm
Devotees queuing up at the Siddhivinayak
Temple, Prabhadevi, nowadays get a pamphlet before prasad. The pamphlet,
distributed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has raised an unholy row.
It says the temple's funds are being
systematically diverted to private trusts run by ministers in the state
government and state officials. It cites the case of Vilasrao Patil-Undalkar,
a minister in the Democratic Front government, who got Rs 83 lakh transferred
from the temple trust to Dada Undalkar Smarak Samiti, a trust run by him.
The state government controls the
Siddhivinayak Temple trust, which is the state's second richest (after
Shirdi) with a corpus of over Rs 42 crore.
The distribution of the pamphlets,
written in Marathi, began last week. On December 26, state VHP president
Ashok Chowgule and other VHP workers met Governor Mohammad Fazal to apprise
him of the issue.
"We asked the governor to ask the
state government what it had to say. The governor promised to look into
the matter," said Chowgule.
It is not just the VHP that has
raised the issue of corruption at the temple. A public interest litigation
was filed in the Bombay High Court in November, alleging that temple funds
worth Rs 86 lakh were diverted to the Dada Undalkar Smarak Samiti, a trust
in Karad run by Vilasrao Patil-Undalkar, minister for welfare, rehabilitation,
relief works and textiles.
The petition has alleged that in
the absence of any guidelines for distribution of temple funds, the funds
are being misused by those who control the temple. The plea has sought
transparency in allocation of funds by the trustees to other trusts and
NGOs. The petition is being heard by the court.
Patil-Undalkar said the money transferred
was used for charity. "There is complete transparency in transfer of funds.
The money has been used to build a ladies hostel for children of freedom
fighters and ex-servicemen.
The money has not been used for
any other purpose," the minister said from Karad.
Unlike other temple trusts that
are governed by the charity commissioner, the Siddhivinayak and Shirdi
Sai Baba temple trusts are governed under a special legislation enacted
by the state government in 1980 and come under the direct jurisdiction
of the state law and judiciary department.
In the year 2000, when the funds
were transferred to his trust, Patil-Undalkar, as then minister of state
for law and judiciary, was the sanctioning authority for distribution of
funds by the temple trust.
The Siddhivinayak trust has eleven
trustees, seven of whom are appointed directly by the government. The three-year
term of seven trustees ended in October 2003, and they are yet to be replaced
by the government. The other trustees still have two-and-a-half years to
go.
Chowgule said the pamphlets have
been distributed especially on Tuesdays. "The government takes over management
of temples and appoints people who are not interested in the welfare of
the temples.
These appointees use Hindu money
for their own needs. Will the government ever think of taking over mosques
and churches? We want to bring this to the notice of devotees," said Chowgule.
Around two lakh devotees visit Siddhivinayak
temple every Tuesday, leaving the temple flush with money. In October 2003,
the temple's corpus was estimated to be around Rs 42 crore, as against
Rs 30 crore three years ago.
Its annual income is estimated to
be Rs 12 crore, as against Rs 8 crore three years ago. According to temple
deeds, the excess income is supposed to be used for charitable and medical
purposes.
Former trustee Sharayu Thakur, who
stepped down in October 2003, said Rs 86 lakh was transferred in 2000 before
the last batch of trustees took over. "Previously there was little demand
for donations from the trust.
So funds were distributed liberally.
But when our group took over, there was such a tremendous demand for funds
that any single disbursement has not crossed Rs 70 lakh.
Patil's was not the only trust to
get such a large funding from the temple during the term of the earlier
group. A larger fund of Rs three crore was given to a cancer hospital in
Miraj," she said.