New Delhi: A Tirupati Temple model to manage the Ram Mandir, an independent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with experience working in Uttar Pradesh, and formalising the shrine’s top-level staff pattern are some of the suggestions made by the temple construction committee chairperson Nripendra Misra amid the donation fund controversy.
He termed the allegations regarding the donation fund irregularities as “painful”.
“It’s very painful because if—let us say—even a pie of devotees’ contributions has gone to individuals, then it’s loss of faith and face, and the devotees will feel cheated. So, as a citizen, everybody is hurt. The temple requires (a certain level of integrity) that whatever comes, every pie should be transparently put on notice. Let people see it. Let everyday’s contribution be counted the next day and let people see. I’m sure these things now will come up and improvement will happen,” Misra said in an interview with ThePrint.
The retired civil servant admitted that the staff pattern needs formalisation, at least at the temple management’s top level.
“There’s always scope for improving the management of the temple,” he said. “If you are talking about the future I think there is a need to formalise the administration and there is a need to have a manual of vigilance on everything—there are huge operations and management (O&M) today.”
A Vigilance O&M Manual outlines the procedures and ethical standards required to maintain transparency, prevent corruption, and manage investigations within an organisation.
The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations of embezzlement of donation funds. The SIT has already started began probe into the alleged irregularities.
“Each of the gadgets that are put up, whether solar, sewage, even the solar light at deity, each one of them requires an O&M manual. I think there is that need. I am very sure that SIT is looking into these matters and it may contribute to this too,” Misra said.
He also pointed out that a CEO should be appointed for the temple’s management.
“And, the CEO should work with the trust (Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust). No one is asking that the articles should be changed, the bylaws should be changed, but there has to be a CEO who has the experience of working in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
“Considering it is Ayodhya, you must know Uttar Pradesh, only then can you manage it properly. You have to manage with the trustees, etc. There’s a model in Tirupati. I’m not saying bring the Act. But Tirupati has got a person of the commissioner rank as the chief administrative officer, and each one of them generally stays for five-seven years and manages the entire show there.”
The ‘Tirupati Model’ refers to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), an autonomous statutory body established by the Andhra Pradesh government to manage the Sri Venkateswara Temple.
The well-being of pilgrims, he said, should be the primary business of the trust.
“My own view is that the trust should look only in that. The Chief Executive Officer should manage the day-to-day affairs. So, we must improve the management from the point of view of devotees.”
On 16 June, ThePrint reported that the SIT spent nearly six hours examining the process of collecting, counting, packing and depositing the offerings in banks.
Sources in the Uttar Pradesh Police said that details of employees and personnel associated with the donation management system were collected during the first phase of the inquiry. The SIT has started questioning trust employees, cash-counting staff and others involved in handling donations to determine whether any irregularities, negligence or misconduct took place.
Misra further said that vigilance becomes all the more important in institutions such as the Ram Mandir Trust where more than 70 percent of the employees are (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) swayamsevaks.
He also defended the role of the Uttar Pradesh government and said that the Supreme Court judgement on Ram Mandir had stated that there will be no interference from the government.
“When the request was made to it, the trust wrote a letter to the government. They decided and issued notification in 12 hours. What more is required? They have asked for a report, two reports. One report is a preliminary inquiry report. The second is the final report in 15 days,” Misra said.
“And, at least, my understanding is that if in the preliminary inquiry report they find any kind of financial irregularity, they may convert the preliminary inquiry report into FIR. So, personally, I’m of the view that whatever the government of UP had to do, they have done.”
The overall construction of the temple is over and the total cost has come to approximately Rs 1,800 crore, so far, he said.
“We are reconciling the bills now because both Larson and Turbo and Tata Consultancies will be leaving the premises by 15 July or by 30 July. As of now, the broad estimates are that about Rs 1,800 crore has been spent in the construction,” Misra added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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