Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday handed over the bond certificate for 20.567 kg of 22 carat not-in-use gold belonging to the Arulmigu Mariamman temple at Irukkangudi in Virudhunagar district to the custodians of the temple.

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister P.K. Sekarbabu, who presented the certificate from the State Bank of India’s Bullion branch in Mumbai to the Chief Minister, explained the modalities to melt not-in-use gold. He said the gold comprised pieces of jewellery deposited in the hundial by devotees, and cannot be used to adorn the deity.

“Instead of letting the gold ornaments just be collected and kept in bags, we have sorted them all, removed the stones and lac used as a filling and sent only the gold to the Reserve Bank of India’s Mint in Mumbai, where the gold was smelted, and we now have 24 carat purity of the precious metal in the bank’s safe custody. The period of deposit is seven years, and the temple will annually get the interest from that as income. If the price of gold goes up, we will get more,” he said.

HR&CE Secretary B. Chandra Mohan said the rules for smelting gold received by temples had been drawn up in 1977, and were in vogue since 1980. The scheme had not been implemented for the last 10 years. The gold was sorted in the presence of a committee headed by retired High Court judge R. Mala, who also travelled to Mumbai to ensure the safety of the gold.  

HR&CE Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran and Additional Commissioner R. Kannan were present on the occasion. The certificate was handed over to S.R.M. Ramamurthy Pusari, hereditary trustee and president of the temple’s board of trustees, and executive officer Karunakaran.