Modi the PM of India is a highly religious man and believes in Lord Venkateshwara very much. The Government earlier has said that if people have old notes, they would be fined. But here there is an odd situation with the Lord. He had got old notes accumulated to the tune of around Rs 4 crore.
It has to be seen if Lord Balaji would be bailed out by the finance Minister Arun Jailtly via RBI. There is a chance that the AP government might request the centre and PM Modi to intervene in this issue.
The famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala is caught in a piquant situation as it has received over Rs 4 crore in demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from devotees in its ‘hundi’ in the last two months, past the deadline for their exchange.
TTD board has written to the government and the Reserve Bank of India on the fate of the accumulated notes and was awaiting a response, a top official said .
Lakhs of Pilgrims thronging the cash-rich temple from various parts of the country continued to offer the junked currency in the hundi along with valid notes even after the deadline for exchange of demonetised notes expired on December 30.
It is a tradition that Pilgrims of Lord Venkateswara to keep depositing cash in tiny boxes or mud pots kept in ‘pooja rooms’ in their houses over a period, and then deposit it in the temple hundi whenever they undertake the pilgrimage to Tirumala.
TTD officials believe a large part of the demonetised currency notes offered in the hundi in the last two months might be those kept in the boxes at homes.
TTD shrine annually nets more than Rs 1,000 crore besides gold and silver offerings, temple officials said.
The government has notified a law that makes holding of more than 10 scrapped notes punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.
Will Modi bail out TTD has to be seen..
U.Srinivas
Editor
