VIJAYAWADA: The trust board meeting of Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam (SDMSD) headed by chairman Paila Sominaidu and temple executive officer MV Suresh Babu approved Rs 178.83 crore budget for the financial year 2021-22. Addressing media after the trust board meeting on Wednesday, trust board chairman Sominaidu said Durga temple reeled under financial crisis during lockdown with only Rs 58.01 crore revenue in the fiscal 2020-21 as against Rs 150.34 crore in 2019-20.
However, temple authorities are expecting an estimated revenue of Rs 178.83 crore in the form of cash offerings to be made by devotees, rents, sale of prasadam, darshan tickets and other sources of income. He said Rs 176.38 crore will be spent in the ensuing fiscal.
As per the budget proposals made by the SDMSD board, hundi and other capital receipts were only Rs 16.37 crore for the current fiscal and they are estimated to increase to Rs 50 crore in the next fiscal.
Interest from bank deposits for the temple during the current fiscal was Rs 7.14 crore and it was estimated to be Rs 13 crore in the next fiscal. The Durga temple is expected to get a revenue of Rs 19.8 crore through lease of lands and shops and licences which includes sale of human hair, tollgate, cloakrooms, saree auction and others. The trust board members further estimated that the temple can earn Rs 40 crore revenue through sale of prasadam.
The sale of tickets for daily and weekly rituals in the temple, special entry tickets for VIPs and online tickets priced at Rs 300 could get Rs 42.9 crore. “The surplus budget with net income of Rs 2.45 crore was approved and will be sent to the endowments commissioner for final approval. Keeping in view of increasing Covid-19 cases, we are taking extra care for the safety of devotees visiting the temple. We also urge devotees to follow Covid-19 norms,” said chairman Sominaidu.
He said the temple board further decided to urge the Centre to name any train passing through Vijayawada as Kanaka Durga Express. Sominaidu also said, “We are planning to construct arches at select places in the city reflecting our culture and heritage using temple funds.”