The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Tamil Nadu government has come to the rescue of people facing shortage of lower value notes, by making them available from the temple hundis.
The New Indian Express reported that various banks had made a representation to the HR and CE department asking to open temple hundis more frequently so that the shortage of lower denomination notes can be reduced. Following this, the department sent a circular to all the temples.
Official sources told TNIE that only those temples which have sizeable cash offerings per day have been asked to open their hundis once in three days and others have been asked to do so as frequently as possible depending on the circumstances.
Sources added that this process will continue till December after which, the HR & CE department will take further action depending on the requirement.
According to the TNIE report, the total collections in the last three days are Rs 4.15 crore (November 21), Rs 2.75 crore (November 22) and Rs 96 lakhs (November 23).
The hundis in Sri Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore were opened recently after a month and the total collection was around Rs 32 lakhs, out of which Rs 20 lakhs were in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Some devotees also offered new Rs 2000 notes besides a few other currencies. In October, the hundis collection was Rs 24 lakh, reported The New Indian Express.