Chennai: State Hindu Religious and Charitable and Endowments (HR & CE) department Minister P.K. Sekar Babu made a scathing attack on those spreading canards against the functioning of his department saying the lies spread through social media like Facebook and WhatsApp were aimed at bringing disrepute to the DMK government led by M K Stalin, which in fact had done the most for temples in the State.
Addressing a press conference organized on Wednesday in the wake of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleging irregularities in the HR & CE department, Sekarbabu said recalled the history of the department and said that it was formed in 1955 to protect the temples from the hereditary trustees who were looting them.
While the temples had been protected by the HR & CE department efficiently, ever since the DMK came to power in 2021 more funds had been pumped in for development of temples in various ways like holding festivals, renovating old temples and conserving ancient temples.
Also in retrieving temple properties encroached upon by people, the DMK government had been proactive, he said, adding that documents related to the properties owned by the temples running to 4 crore pages were uploaded in the website.
Besides, CCTV cameras were installed in all the temples and the four arts colleges, one polytechnic and 25 schools that have 25,000 students in their rolls were being run properly. A master plan was drawn for the development of 15 temples and implemented and Rs 1,462 crore was allocated for it, he said.
Releasing a long statement on the various activities of the department, he said no other government had done so much for the temples in the State, whose functioning now had been lauded by devotees all over the world.
He alleged that the false information was spread through social media with a view to create an image that the DMK government was anti-Hindi, which is totally untrue. He said a Goebbelian propaganda was being carried out by repeating the lies again and again just to give a bad name for the government.
