Karnataka - Hassan   

Plan to preserve temples, recover encroached property

HASSAN: Minister for Endowment and Housing Krishnaiah Shetty said here on Monday that the Ministry was preparing a comprehensive plan to preserve all temples in the State besides recovering encroached property of temples.

In this regard, a high-level meeting would be held with the Director General of Police and the Revenue Minister.

The Minister, who was on his way to Datta Peetha in Chikmagalur district, made a brief halt in Hassan.

Addressing presspersons, Mr. Shetty said Datta Peetha issue was sensitive and should be handled carefully.

A portion of the cave in Datta Peetha has collapsed, and he was on his way to inspect this cave.

He said he had requested the Chief Minister to enhance allocation for the Endowment Department. There was also a proposal to raise the honorariums of “archaks” to Rs. 1,000.

The Minister agreed that Karnataka Choultry in Tirumala Tirupathi was in a bad shape and said that this would be set right.

After consultation with Andhra Pradesh Government, the State would construct 1,000 rooms for the devotees, he added.

Mr. Shetty said that Central funding was important for developing bigger temples such as those in Belur and Halebeedu. The State had already sent a proposal to The Centre in this regard, he added.

The Minister said Chamundeswari Hills in Mysore would be developed with Rs. 30 crore, and a master plan was being prepared for this.

For the development of big temples in the State, Rs. 250 crore was set aside, Mr. Shetty said.

On behalf of the Housing Ministry, he said there was a proposal to construct 15 lakh houses in the next five years of which, two lakh would be constructed this year.

This project was estimated to cost Rs. 900 crore.

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