Author: Political Bureau
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: January 7, 2004
The city's richest Siddhivinayak
Temple at Prabhadevi finds itself in the maelstorm of unholy controversy
with Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) accusing the Temple Trust of swindling
Rs.83 lakh from Siddhivinayak and diverting the same to private trusts
run by ministers and bureaucrats in the state government.
It may be noted that the Siddhivinayak
Temple trust is the state's second richest (after Shirdi) with a corpus
of over Rs.42 crores and is controlled by the state government.
The pamphlet written in Marathi
and distributed by the VHP says the temple's funds are being systematically
diverted to private trusts run by ministers in the state government and
state officials. It alleges that Vilasrao Patil-Undalkar, a minister
in the Democratic Front government got Rs.83 lakhs transferred from the
temple trust to his trust named 'Dada Undalkar Smarak Samiti'. State
VHP President Ashok Chowgule and other VHP workers met Governor Mohammed
Fazal on December 26 to apprise him of the issue. Speaking to the
newsmen, Chowgule said, 'We asked the governor to ask the state government
what it had to say. The governor promised to look into the matter.'
It is noteworthy that a public interest
litigation was filed in the Bombay High Court in November alleging that
temple funds worth Rs.86 lakh were diverted to The Dada Undalkar Smarak
Samiti, a trust in Karad run by Vilasrao Patil-Undalkar.
Stating his side of the story, Patil-Undalkar
who is minister for welfare, rehabilitation, relief works and textiles
in the DF government and represents the Karad-south constituency in Satara
district said, the money transferred was used for charity. There
is complete transparency in transfer of funds. The money has been
used to build a ladies hostel for children of freedom fighters and ex-servicemen.
The money has not been used for any other purpose', said the minister who
is known to be close to former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
It is alleged that Patil-Undalkar, transferred the funds to his trust in
2000 when he was minister of state for law and judiciary and was the sanctoning
authority for distribution of funds by the temple trust. Like the Shirdi
Sai Baba temple Siddhivinayak trust is governed under a special legislation
enacted by the state government in 1980 and comes under the direct jurisdiction
of the state law and judiciary department. The Siddhivinayak trust
has eleven trustees, seven of whom are appointed directly by the government.
Criticising the government for taking over the Hindu temples, Chowgule
said, "The government takes over management of temples and appoints people
who are not interested in the welfare of the temples. These appointees
use Hindu money for their own needs. Will the government ever think of
taking over mosques and churches? We want to bring this to the notice
of devotees." said Chowgule explaining the rationale behind distributing
the pamphlets.
