KOLKATA: More than Rs 10 lakh has been collected by way of donations in the first 12 days at Digha Jagannath temple, which has witnessed a huge rush of visitors since its inauguration by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on April 30. According to rough estimates, over 20 lakh devotees have visited the temple in the past fortnight. The temple authorities, who expect the footfall to rise further, are now planning to install 10 additional donation boxes by next week.
“Now, there is just one collection box placed in front of the main idol where devotees can offer donations,” said Radharaman Das, trustee and chief priest of the temple.As per the standard operating procedure (SOP) established for transparent management of ‘hundi’ collections, the donation box is to be opened every Tuesday.
May 6 was the first Tuesday after the inauguration and the first time that the donation was opened. The collection amounted to about Rs 4 lakh.“On May 13, the hundi box was opened for the second time under CCTV surveillance and in front of police from Ramnanagar and Digha Coastal police stations, designated govt and bank officials, ISKCON monks and temple volunteers. It revealed a collection of around Rs 5.8 lakh in bank notes and coins.
The counting started at 1pm and continued till 8pm. Just the coins amounted to Rs 1.2 lakh,” said Das.The temple authorities believe donations have crossed Rs 20 lakh by Saturday.The 10 new steel donation boxes that the temple has ordered will each be 42x18 inches in length and width and 32 inches in height. These will be placed in different corners of the temple. Each box will also have dual locks and the keys will be in the custody of an officer of the level of executive magistrate.
The officer will also be changed every week, as per the SOP.“We noticed that around 80% of the devotees were unable to reach the lone donation box,” said a security in-charge of the sanctum sanctorum. “We also plan to initiate e-payment and have UPI scanner codes for easy donation,” said Das. For smooth crowd management, the state has also decided to recruit 100 more volunteers.
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