CHENNAI: HR&CE Minister S Ramesh on Thursday said that pregnant women, those carrying infants, elderly persons, and persons with disabilities would be exempted from the ban on the use of smartphones inside 52 major temples in the state.
He added that on festival days, when there is a heavy rush, devotees need not deposit their mobile phones outside the temples, and instructions to this effect have already been issued.
Saying that the government did not make the collection of Rs 5 fee to deposit mobile phones mandatory, the minister said that the department has left the decision to the discretion of the temples.
Addressing the media in Chennai, he defended the ban, saying the measure, implemented from September 1, was the state’s implementation of an existing court order. He said the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had, in December 2022, directed that the restriction on the use of mobile phones in temples be implemented across the state.
He said temple authorities were told to ensure devotees were not made to wait in queues for long to deposit or collect their phones. Depositing a phone should not become a burden for devotees, he said.
Further, he alleged that “groups that do not want the existence of the HR&CE department” were spreading misleading propaganda.
On Thursday night, speculations were rife on social media about the ban being lifted. The minister, however, could not be reached for a comment.
Meanwhile, the five mobile phone deposit centres set up at the Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai proved to be inadequate, as devotees had to wait for up to two hours to collect their devices. The devotees at the Tiruttani Murugan temple complained about having to wait in another queue, besides the one for the darshan.