VIJAYAWADA: The ancient Dasanjaneya Swamy Temple at Machavaram in the city, which generally gets a revenue of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in a period of 60 days through hundi collections, surprisingly earned a whopping Rs 1.05 crore during the time of demonetisation.
The temple hundi was found to have been filled to the brim with the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Earlier, smaller denominations like Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 50 used to be dropped in the hundi.
According to the Parakamani officials, counting of hundi collections began at 8 am and concluded at 4 pm on 24th November, 2016. Temple sources opined that traders and businessmen might have liberally dropped the demonetised currency notes in the hundi instead of standing in serpentine queues at banks and accounting for the money later on.
Speaking to Express, temple executive officer Nutaki Venkata Sambasiva Rao confirmed that the temple hundi collection stood at Rs 1,05,59,327. This is the first time in the history of the temple that the hundi collection crossed Rs 1 crore mark in 72 days.
The earlier record for 60 days was Rs 2.95 lakh during the month of April in 2016. The temple staff were surprised to see Rs 1,000 notes (100 bundles) and Rs 500 (300 notes) in the hundi. Besides cash offerings, the hundi also contained gold and silver. However, their value is yet to be ascertained.
The EO said that Anjaneya Swamy temple is one of the prominent ones in Krishna district. The temple comes under the purview of the Endowments Department.
(With inputs from Online Desk)