Ramgarh DC to head Rajrappa temple body

Ranchi: Devotees visiting the Chinnamastika Temple in Rajrappa can now hope for better facilities on the temple premises.
The Ramgarh district administration has decided to constitute a management body for the iconic shrine's daily upkeep, development and management of its earnings in the form of offerings. The managing body, Rajrappa Temple Development Society will be registered on Monday under the societies registration act.
Explaining the reason for the move Ramgarh deputy commissioner Anjanyellu Dodde said, "Lakhs of devotees come to the temple each year and the temple's revenue ventures in crores. However, the district administration does not have any clue where all the money goes. Besides the money, we do not have information about what is going on in the temple premises".
The new arrangement, Dodde said, will bring in transparency on the management of the temple funds. The management committee with the DC as its head will be responsible for carrying out infrastructure development work.
Constitution of the management committee is expected to provide relief from the ruckus created by the temple priests. "The priests have been often accused of charging exorbitant money for helping devotees perform special prayers or arranging special 'Darshans'. The committee will ensure streamlining of the activities and put a fixed cap on entry," Ramgarh DC said.
Devotees coming to the temple also face nuisance at the parking lot. "Local people hand us parking slips and charge anything between Rs 50 and 100. The slips do not have any official bearing and the money is taken by the local people," said Poonam Singh, a Ranchi based housewife who frequently visits the shrine with her family in their personal vehicle.
None of the temple priests were available for comment. However, it was learnt that the instruction to form a society was issued by chief minister Raghubar Das on his recent visit to the temple in January who gave orders for streamlining things at Rajrappa on the lines of Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar. The Lord Shiva shrine in Deoghar functions under a body and has a dedicated temple trust to pool in revenue.