The Devasthanam board had decided to sell tickets for Kalyanam ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 5000, which has stoked controversy as VHP threatened to stop any such move, OpIndia reported

Telengana: The temple trust of Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam of Bhadrachalam district of Telangana has decided to arrange the fund for organising ‘Seetha Rama Kalyanam’ (the celestial wedding of Lord Ram and Goddess Seeta)

The Devasthanam board had decided to sell tickets for Kalyanam ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 5000, which has stoked controversy as VHP threatened to stop any such move. Even though the Seetha Rama Kalyanam was declared as state festival, the trust does not get any funds from the government except pair of silk robes and pearls costing about Rs 20,000,  as per the reports.

According to the temple official, the total earning of the temple is about Rs 2 crore per month, out of which Rs 90 lakh goes to the staff salaries and about Rs 40 lakh to the Telangana State Endowments Department towards the payment of goodwill fund. The temple is left with only Rs 60 lakh.

The temple measures about 917 acres, but out of that 847 acres of land in Purushottapattanam of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

Mos of the land has been under encroachment and the case is still pending in High Court.

Besides that the Telengana government has given the non-encroached temple land for education purpose.

As per the reports, “The revenues from other sources and the user charges paid by the encroachers of the agricultural lands are meagre and the temple itself has to meet the legal expenses,”

“With the fund shortage, the temple was not in a position to celebrate Kalyanam unless it accepts additional revenue by selling tickets if the state government does not provide funds. The state government should reduce the tax of 21 per cent the government has been collecting from the temple,” the official said.

Reportedly, the VHP and other Hindu religious organisations are likely to meet Governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan on Monday demanding the withdrawal of temple’s decision to sell tickets for the celestial wedding.