Saundatti Yallamma Temple donations rise

Donations at the Saundatti Yallamma Temple have increased by around 37%, compared to the same period last year.

Donations at the Saundatti Yallamma Temple have increased by around 37%, compared to the same period last year.

Officials say that it is mostly due to the huge influx of women devotees who have benefited from Shakti, the State government’s free bus pass scheme.

In just two months, May and June, the temple’s hundi boxes collected over ₹1.37 crore. This is against the average of around ₹1 crore collected in these months last year and in the earlier years.

Devotees have dropped ₹1.30 crore in cash, gold jewellery worth ₹4.4 lakh and silver ornaments worth ₹2.29 lakh in the hundis.

“We are making all arrangements for the extra pilgrims who are arriving,” said S.P.B. Mahantesh, Chief Executive Officer of the temple.

A team of over 50 clerks and officers, loaned from banks and other financial institutions, counted the notes and coins in the hundis for two days this week.

The Sri Renukadevi Temple on the mountain near Saundatti, also called Yallamma temple, is among the top 10 revenue earning temples. It attracts devotees, a large number of them women, from various States, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.