The Hindu Munnani has demanded a white paper on the status of temples in the State. A plea in this regard was aired at the regional meet of the Munnani held here on Sunday, chaired by the State organiser N Muruganandham. Members representing Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts participated in the meet.
Muruganandham said the State government must declare the details about all the temples such as properties owned by them, encroached lands, cows maintained by them, cars, monthly income, administration and management. This information, besides facilitating transparency, would also encourage more people to extend support to temples in many ways.
He also underlined that the ban imposed on special poojas such as Thiruvilakku poojai and Laksharchanai by devotees at the temples maintained by the HR and CE should be lifted. The conical loudspeakers banned in public functions were being used by other religious outfits which should be prevented, he said.
Further, Muruganandham said the State should also ban open prayer meetings conducted by certain sections that often led to group clashes, he added. The district administration should take suitable action to prevent killing of cows. Both the State and the Centre must bring in legislations to ban slaughter of cows, Muruganandham said.
State secretaries S Vellaiappan and V Sunilkumar, State secretary (Hindu advocates wing) V Rathnakumar and Vellore district president G Mahesh among others were present on the occasion.