A government temple employee was caught stealing gold belonging to the temple while his top most authority was caught making a woman carry his slippers in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments(HRCE) Board officer stole gold coins weighing 30 grams while counting hundi collections. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of HRCE was caught making a woman carry his slippers.
The TN HRCE department has a bad name as it is due to its continuous attempts to plunder temple wealth and allowing/employing non-Hindus in temples. Yet, CM MK Stalin often admires the HRCE minister Sekar Babu as an efficient minister who gets things done. But controversies continue strengthening the argument for freeing temples from government control day by day.
Recently an Executive Officer(EO) of the Sri Erumbeeswarar temple in Tiruverumbur was caught stealing gold coins while counting hundi collections. EO Vetrivel was part of the group of officials and employees appointed by HRCE for counting hundi collections in Sri Samayapuram Mariamman temple in Trichy. He reportedly hid some gold coins in his pocket during the counting process.
The Hindu reported that a fellow officer who noticed his suspicious activities alerted others. When Vetrivel was frisked, gold coins weighing 30 grams were found in his person. Later, they lodged a complaint against Vetrivel based on which Samayapuram police registered a case. But Vetrivel is reportedly absconding. In the meantime, the HRCE Joint Commissioner of the Trichy region has suspended him until the department inquiry is over.
In other news, the Commissioner of the HRCE department, who receives accolades much on the same scale as the minister, was seen making a woman carry his slippers. HRCE Commissioner Kumaragurubaran IAS visited Sri Parthasarathi temple in Tiruvallikeni, Chennai on December 16. A video of him making a woman carry his slippers as he was leaving the temple has gone viral on social media.
Pro-DMK media One India Tamil has given varying theories about the incident. While some say that the woman, who appears to be janitor, was made to carry the Commissioner’s slippers throughout his visit, others say that she brought it on her own seeing the officer searching for his slippers. There is another claim that it was the lower rung officers who bade the woman to do the task.
Whatever be the case, the officer neither chastised the woman for carrying his slippers nor tried to get it from her upon seeing her carry them. It gives an understanding that this is not the first time someone carries his slippers for him. DMK’s Dravidian ideology encourages it to bring social justice in the appointment of pujaris, their ministers and officers are treating lower level employees as sub-humans.
It is to be noted that discrepancies in appointment of HRCE employees was reported many times and given as the cause of dilapidating temples and diminishing temple wealth. HRCE officials were found buying food and at some instances even vehicles meant for their personal use from temple money. There have also been instances of crypto-Christians occupying positions in HRCE working inside temples. Considering this history it is no wonder that its Commissioner is treating employees badly while another officer is stealing temple money.
