Promote ‘temple tourism’, says CM

NT Correspondent

Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai launched development of 25 ‘A’ temples under Integrated Temple Management System (ITMS) as part of ‘Daiva Sankalp’ scheme being formulated by the Department of Muzrai here on Wednesday.

Launching the scheme online from his home office, he said there was a lot of opportunity for the promotion of ‘temple tourism’ in Karnataka due to the presence of a number of hotels in South, North and Coastal Karnataka. This can be tagged with monument tourism which is slowly becoming popular. Both can be combined into a tourism circuit. The department concerned must prepare a master plan to provide infrastructure in temples.

Complimenting the department for implementing ITMS, Bommai said temple maintenance was very important due to the inflow of devotees from various places. The number of persons visiting temples must be recorded. At the same time, maintenance of temple properties was also very crucial. Need of the hour was to improve temple administration by managing it locally as it would help in overall development of temples. There should be total control over temple administration since it involved donations from the public and property. Steps would be taken to solve problems of archakas and priests, he added.

Later, talking to reporters, Minister for Muzrai, Shashikala Jolle said plans are afoot to develop 25 ‘A’ grade temples at a cost of Rs 1,440 crore by providing basic facilities to devotees. This would help in improved footfall into temples. There is a thought to develop temples in Karnataka on the lines of development of Kashi in Varanasi, she added.