Temples turned away donors asking them to instead make donations in multiples of Rs 100, or donate via card
The Saibaba temple in Shirdi. File pic
You would think that the bank can reject your now-abolished note, but the gods won’t turn you away. But, you’d be dead wrong. Turns out, devotees hoping to donate their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in exchange for some ‘chutta’ or a donation receipt can walk away; only donations in donation boxes will still accept those notes now.
ADVERTISEMENT
Temple trend
Mahesh Suryawanshi, treasurer at Shrimant Dagaduseth Halwai Ganpati Trust, said, “We have a Ganpati Abhishek amount of Rs 101, and while there are those who want to donate more, especially Rs 501 and Rs 1,001 in cash, those notes cannot be accepted anymore and we prefer to get R100 instead. If they still want to donate that amount, we have asked them to give it via card or directly put it in the donation box. Many were also opting for Rs 301 and asking for change.” Similar scenes were witnessed at the Shirdi Saibaba temple, where many devotees were asked to do the same and they even displayed a board clarifying this.
However, it was a different approach that the Tuljabhavani temple in Osmanabad took. Dilip Naikwade, administrative head of the temple, said, “After the notification, we sought opinion from a bank and they told us that such notes can be exchanged 50 days time, so we are accepting them.”
Devotees upset
Ahmednagar-based lecturer Vaibhav Ghodke, meanwhile, paid a visit to Shirdi and said, “All my friends had given me cash which they wanted me to offer the Saibaba Trust. But I found that they were not accepting cash against receipt, and instead asked us to just put it in the donation box. Despite telling them that they could exchange from bank later, they refused citing orders by superiors.”
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
