Puri Jagannath Temple Revenue Generation: Hundis At Airport, Stations Soon

Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Wednesday set a target for annual revenue generation of the temple to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore.

Briefing media after presiding over the annual budget meeting of the temple, SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar said as the annual rate of interest towards fixed deposits of the corpus, foundation fund and temple fund in the banks is not adequate to manage the temple affairs, alternative arrangements will be made to generate more revenue for the temple.

“At present, the temple administration receives about Rs 12 crore from the Hundi (donation box) in the temple premises every year. Now, it has been decided to keep the hundi at the airport and railway stations. Apart from this, as some big companies are keen on donating money to the temple, we will keep the hundi on their premises,” Kumar said.

He further said a decision has been taken to generate revenue from the stone quarries that are presently running on the land owned by the Jagannath temple. The temple administration has set a target of Rs 10 crore revenue in the current financial by awarding these quarries on lease.

Stating that the temple fund has more than Rs 650 crore at present, Kumar said that efforts are on to increase the amount to Rs 750 crore next year and Rs 1000 crore before the Rath Yatra in 2023.