Rs 30 cr security planned for Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple shrine
Source: ET
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The expert-committee making an inventory of the assets of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple met here and dispersed without detailed deliberations in view of the Supreme Court's decision to defer opening of the secret vault A till further orders.
Emerging from the meeting, retired high court judge Justice M N Krishnan who heads the committee, said the order of the Supreme Court's order regarding the temple will be complied with in its letter and spirit.
Meanwhile, the state government is planning a Rs 30-crore security plan for the shrine, the first installment of which was earmarked in the state budget presented in the assembly on Friday. The new measures would replace the temporary arrangements which have been put in place for now.
Currently, about 200 personnel from the local police, over a dozen cops from the Quick Reaction Team and 48 police commandoes are guarding the temple where stock taking has revealed wealth estimated at over Rs 1 lakh crore. The estimates are merely based on the bullion prices and have not taken into account the antique value of the riches.
The director general of police has recommended that the home department declare the area within 500 metres of the temple a special security zone. If this materialises, constructions in the zone would require the consent of the police and district collector.
A special police control room has already begun to function outside the Western Gate of the shrine. Five vaults in the temple including one which had not been opened after 1872 were unsealed last week by the SC-appointed panel.
According to sources, the committee was stunned by what it found in the secret vault marked A. There were close to 1000 kg of gold coins, some of these from the East India Company era and Napolean's period, about 1 tonne of gold in the form of rice trinkets, sack full of diamonds said to be from Burma and Sri Lanka, a rope made of gold and thousands of pieces of rare 'sarappoli' necklaces. Stock-taking continued on Friday as only 30% of the assets could be counted on Thursday.
Again there were surprises in the form of a three-and-a-half feet tall rare idol of Lord Vishnu studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, an 18 feet long ornament used to adorn the deity and weighing 35 kg and 1 feet tall human figurines weighing 1 kg each. There were also coins marked 1772.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The expert-committee making an inventory of the assets of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple met here and dispersed without detailed deliberations in view of the Supreme Court's decision to defer opening of the secret vault A till further orders.
Emerging from the meeting, retired high court judge Justice M N Krishnan who heads the committee, said the order of the Supreme Court's order regarding the temple will be complied with in its letter and spirit.
Meanwhile, the state government is planning a Rs 30-crore security plan for the shrine, the first installment of which was earmarked in the state budget presented in the assembly on Friday. The new measures would replace the temporary arrangements which have been put in place for now.
Currently, about 200 personnel from the local police, over a dozen cops from the Quick Reaction Team and 48 police commandoes are guarding the temple where stock taking has revealed wealth estimated at over Rs 1 lakh crore. The estimates are merely based on the bullion prices and have not taken into account the antique value of the riches.
The director general of police has recommended that the home department declare the area within 500 metres of the temple a special security zone. If this materialises, constructions in the zone would require the consent of the police and district collector.
A special police control room has already begun to function outside the Western Gate of the shrine. Five vaults in the temple including one which had not been opened after 1872 were unsealed last week by the SC-appointed panel.
According to sources, the committee was stunned by what it found in the secret vault marked A. There were close to 1000 kg of gold coins, some of these from the East India Company era and Napolean's period, about 1 tonne of gold in the form of rice trinkets, sack full of diamonds said to be from Burma and Sri Lanka, a rope made of gold and thousands of pieces of rare 'sarappoli' necklaces. Stock-taking continued on Friday as only 30% of the assets could be counted on Thursday.
Again there were surprises in the form of a three-and-a-half feet tall rare idol of Lord Vishnu studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, an 18 feet long ornament used to adorn the deity and weighing 35 kg and 1 feet tall human figurines weighing 1 kg each. There were also coins marked 1772.
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