For whom the bells toll

mid-day spoke to temples and gurdwaras across India to find out the preparations they have made at ground zero to assist devotees

Tirumala Tirupathi Devasom Board, AP
The temple management has made special alternative arrangements for the 40,000 pilgrims from across the country present there.

Spokesperson for the board Ravi said, “As an immediate measure, executive officer D Samvasiva Rao instructed the annaprasadam wing officials to make the necessary free food arrangements in Tirumala and Tirupathi, as restaurants have stopped taking Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes; multiple food prasadam counters were opened at three other locations. Free milk arrangements were also made for infants.”

Also, instructions have been given to the IT and finance wing to make necessary arrangements by placing point of sale machines (swiping machines) where the pilgrim influx is more to enable them to book rooms, purchase laddu prasadams, calendars and diaries of TTD, and other items.

When asked about any special instructions for devotees who put offerings in the temple hundi, Ravi said, “We have not asked devotees to refrain from putting Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as it may hurt their sentiments.”

Travancore Devaswom Board, Kerala
L Muraleedharan, spokesperson for the board, said the temple is closed for pilgrims and will be opened from November 15 evening (Mandala Pooja Maholsavam) and will remain open till January 20, and thereafter, from February to October every month for five days. Muraleedharn clarified that devotees would be allowed to offer any denomination currency in the hundi, including Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. “We have a special arrangement with our bank, Dhanlakshmi Bank; they do the counting...”

Sri Harimandir Sahib, Golden Temple, Amritsar
Chief secretary of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee S Harcharan Singh told mid-day, “The pilgrims can stay at the shrine and deposit their R500 or R1,000 notes in the boxes kept in and around the shrine. We have also made arrangements to accept cheques and credit/debit cards. Even if the pilgrims don’t have any alternative mode of payment, they can stay at the shrine for free, and they will be taken care of, like everyone else.”

— As told to Vinod Kumar Menon

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