The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department is conducting a census of temples in Tamil Nadu that are more than a thousand years old, HRD and CE Minister PK Sekarbabu said.
“This will help us to undertake renovation and restoration work. We have already identified 197 temples which are a thousand years old. This exercise is being done by experts, who are collecting evidence from inscriptions, koil ozugu [temple rituals] description, Sthala Puranam [temple history] Books and style of construction. ,
In case the temples do not receive donors, funds for repairs and restoration will be made available from the Commissioner’s Common Good Fund. “The government is very intent on the upkeep of the temples and has allocated ₹100 crore for this purpose. When it comes to renovation, we do not differentiate between small and big temples,” said Mr. Shekharbabu.
In the last one year, work worth Rs 664 crore has been done in 507 temples under the department.