Puri Priests to Benefit from Amruta Manohi Donation

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Nov 26, 2013 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — The state government on Tuesday announced it would strip the Puri Jagannath Temple administration of the power to accept donation under Amruta Manohi scheme, which has been in vogue since 1981. The government has instead entrusted the priests to collect the Amruta Manohi donation.

Law minister Maheswar Mohanty, who held a meeting with some servitors here on Tuesday, said the scheme would benefit priests, ostensibly trying to pacify the servitors who are angry over the government's recent decision to ban pilgrims from climbing atop chariots during Rath Yatra. Annually the donation scheme used to fetch nearly Rs 30 lakh for the temple.

"The Amruta Manohi donation scheme would no longer be managed by the temple body. The priests have the sole right to collect donation under the head. The state government would provide Rs 40 lakh per year to the temple administration towards the loss," said Mohanty, also a Puri MLA.

The priests of the state-run 12th century shrine had been on the warpath against the Amruta Manohi scheme since 1996. Staking claim over the donations, the priests had been demanding the donation scheme be cancelled.

Under the scheme, a donor used to offer a minimum Rs 2,000 and maximum Rs 20,000 in favour of Lord Jagannath. Such donations were being kept in the fixed deposit accounts of the temple and the interest amount was used to offer bhoga (cooked food) to the Deities in the name of the concerned donors.

The priests' protest intensified in 2009 when they staged demonstrations at different places in Puri during the visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the temple town on January 1, 2009.

Asked, whether the donors would be able to take the priests into confidence and offer donations, the temple officials refused to comment. "Devotees were donating voluntarily because the scheme was controlled by the temple administration. Given the sorry reputation of priests in wake of the uncouth attitude of some servitors, it would be difficult for the priests to get donation," said a Puri-based devotee.

The Temple said it would not incur loss. "We have several other donation schemes like corpus fund, online donation through credit card, donation box and hundi (offertory box). Devotees can donate through those means," temple's spokesperson Laxmidhar Pujapanda said.

The Jagannath Temple received Rs 8.35 crore through different types of donations in 2012-13 financial year. The Amruta Manohi earned Rs 33 lakh last fiscal.