THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board’s (TDB’s) pilot project of centralised counting system of kanikka (donations) will be launched in Thiruvananthapuram district on Monday. Hundi collections from the temples under Thiruvananthapuram, Neyyattinkara and Ulloor, the three TDB groups in the district, will be counted at the Sadyalayam adjacent to the Sreekandeswaram temple here. With the launch of the system, the Board hopes to curb the dip in hundi collection at many temples within its fold.
“The non-increase in hundi collection and some times even drops in revenue had been a major concern of the Board and we wish to get a real picture through the new system,” said TDB Commissioner N Vasu.
“The centralised counting system was under the consideration of the Board for quite some time. The main intention is to put an end to the complaints of theft by the staff members. There are also some cases against employees in this regard,” Vasu said. “Another benefit is that this would lessen the burden on Board’s Assistant Commissioners who monitor the counting at temples. When fully-implemented, they can focus more on devaswom administration,” he added.
“Hundi collections from around two hundred temples will be counted on Monday,. The Varkala group which also falls under the Thiruvananthapuram district is however not included in the pilot project owing to geographical constraints,” he said. The hundis will be opened at temples in the morning and the collections will be brought in sealed bags under the supervision of senior officials. The counting will be done by the staff of Dhanlaxmi bank.
TDB president M Rajagopalan Nair will inaugurate the pilot project. Board members K V Padmanabhan, K Cicily, Commissioner and other higher officials will attend the inaugural function. The counting will be monitored by the Deputy Commissioner.