Sunday, April 01, 2012

Corruption and poor service at famous temples

Unsatisfactory service at Swamimalai and Vaitheeswaran Koil


Last month, I had been to the above temples. At Swamymalai, my elder daughter's in laws wanted to do the abishekam for The Lord Muruga. When we went to the devasthanam counter to pay the amount, we saw in the noticeboard that the abishekam amount was Rs 600. But the person sitting at the counter demanded Rs 1800. Having gone that far, we had no other go than to pay the amount as demanded by the person. After taking the amount, that person gave us a receipt for Rs 1500 only. When we wanted clarification, we were told that the abishekam amount had been revised to Rs 1500 and the balance Rs 300 was collected for 'other expenses' and that no receipt would be given for the same. Open Corruption !

After paying such huge amount , we were disappointed to see that the abishekam to The Lord was over in less than 10 mins.

At Vaitheeswaran koil, I wanted to do archana for the deities and purchased the archana articles before entering the temple. To my surprise, I was told that flower was being sold by only one shop and that I had to buy flower only from that shop. Similar is the case for Vilva leaves. Due to this monopoly, the cost of flower was over 100% costlier than the normal rate outside. On top of this, the gurukkal who was supposed to do archana, completed the archana at each sannadhi in less than a minute !. I am sure he would not have even opened his mouth !!. And for such a poor service, he expects and demands a huge amount as his Dakshina !!!

Definitely these are not the ways to treat the devotees who travel a long distance and come to these temples. This is sheer exploiting the faith of the people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We should capture videos (phone/camcod) and upload to yoou tube and inform in sites like tamilmanam - We should spread this informtion ...

Anonymous said...

Not exactly corruption, but surely a case of stsrk greediness and making a fast buck while the sun shines. Half the fault lies with ua, the bhaktas also. Have you seen the bhaktas in almost ALL the temples, without any exception, waiting for the Gurukkal to come with the Kalpooram thattu and all the bhaktas literally showering the thattu with 10 and 20 rupee notes? Why this mad display of MONEY power?

Anonymous said...

Not exactly corruption, but surely a case of stark greediness and making a fast buck while the sun shines. Half the fault lies with us, the bhaktas also. Have you seen the bhaktas in almost ALL the temples, without any exception, waiting for the Gurukkal to come with the Kalpooram thattu and all the bhaktas literally showering the thattu with 10 and 20 rupee notes? Why this mad display of MONEY power?