VARANASI, July 16, 2013: The Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust (KVTT) has decided a 25% hike in the Devalaya Anushthan (religious rituals) fee and steps to attract donors to ensure gold plating of all domes of the temple, but it did not take any decision on the removal of enamel paints from the walls of the temple.

The meeting of KVTT held under the chairmanship of acting chairman of trust and divisional commissioner CKTiwari in which the principal secretary (religious works) NavneetSehgal, vice chancellor ofSampurnanand Sanskrit University Prof BP Mishra and district magistrate PranjalYadav were also present on Monday. During the meeting, the trust decided to make a hike of 25 percent in the fee of religious rituals like MangalaAarti ticket, Rudrabhishek and others. A hike of 15 percent was also made in the wages of priests of the KVT.

The participants decided to upload the religious and historical facts of KVT and other sites falling in temple premises on its website. They said that there is a need of Rs 20.22 crore for completing the work of gold plating of all domes of the temple. To arrange this fund, they decided to invite donations through website. However, the issue of removal of enamel paints from the artistic walls of temple, due to which its stones are decaying, was not discussed in this meeting, confirmed the commissioner.

While discussing the progress in the construction of proposed building at the site of Goyenka Bhawan, the engineer of department concerned informed the officials that deep digging for creating basement of the proposed building can harm the centuries-old neighbouring buildings. Taking note of it, he was asked to forward a revised proposal. The cost of this proposed building has been estimated as Rs 4.21 crores.

The trust also reviewed the preparations for Shrawan month and decided to stop the replacement of old marbles from the floor. They said that after becoming old, the marble floor becomes slippery hence it should be replaced by granite floor. They said that the donation counters and boxes would be installed on the exit routes as the devotees fail to reach near it when it is installed on the entry routes due to heavy rush.

The DM informed that during every Shrawan month, a budget of Rs 1.75 lakh is spent on installing barricading in and around the temple as a part of crowd control exercise. He said that this cost could be curtailed by installing permanent steel pipe barricading. Considering his suggestion, the commissioner sanctioned a budget of Rs six lakh to install such barricading in 200 meters area on experimental basis.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 16, 2013.