Odisha govt to transfer Lord Jagannath's funds from pvt to nationalised bank

Odisha government on Tuesday informed state Assembly that it will withdraw fixed deposits of Rs 545 crore that has been kept in a private bank in name of Lord Jagannath and keep it in a nationalised bank.

Law Minister Pratap Jena, while replying to a written question in Assembly, said decision regarding this was taken during a meeting of Temple Manment Committee.

decision is significant as legislators cutting across party lines had expressed concern over deposit of funds in a private bank.

Jena said funds will be transferred from private bank on March 19 and March 30.

funds will be deposited in a nationalised bank which will give more rate of interest, he said.

minister informed House that Lord Jagannath has a cash deposit of Rs 626.5 crore including Rs 255.9 crore Sri Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund, Rs 99 crore in Sri Jagannath Temple Foundation Fund and Rs 271.6 crore in Sri Jagannath Temple Fund.

" funds amounting to Rs 592 crore was deposited in a private bank as it gave more rate of interest. Rs 545 crore was kept as fixed deposits and Rs 47 crore as flexi-fixed deposits," minister said.

He said that flexi-fixed deposits have been withdrawn from private bank and after tenures of remaining Rs 545 crore fixed deposits end on March 19 and March 30, amount will be withdrawn from bank on same days, he said.

minister also informed House that Lord Jagannath owns 60,426.94 acres of land spread over 24 districts in Odisha.

Record of rights of 34,803.01 acres of land is with possession of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, he said.

As many as 864 illegal encroachment cases have been filed to free 151.47 acres of land from encroachers in seven districts of state under Section 16-A(1) of Shree Jagannath Temple Act, 1955, minister added.

Im Credits: PTI