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BHUBANESWAR: Puri Jagannath Temple administration on Friday appeared to be grappling with the issue of Rs 545 crore “stuck” in its two accounts with crisis-hit YES Bank even though a senior minister in the Odisha government vehemently claimed that the money is “safe”. This is in stark contrast to the extraordinary foresight shown by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board that had pulled out Rs 1,300 crore from the now-troubled bank well in time in November last year after doing a “risk assessment”.

“The deposits of Jagannath Temple in YES Bank are safe. Two fixed deposits, totalling Rs 545 crore, will mature on March 16 and March 29, and will subsequently be deposited in nationalized banks through a tendering process,” state law minister Pratap Jena told reporters. The minister’s remarks come amid questions raised by Opposition leaders and temple’s servitors about the safety of the funds.

Jena made it clear that the current restrictions on withdrawals of funds not more than Rs 50,000 a month from YES Bank would not come in the way of “transferring” the temple funds to a government bank.

Temple officials said till September 30 last, Rs 592 crore was deposited in YES Bank. “Recently, Rs 47 crore was withdrawn. The state finance department’s letters sent on October 10, 2018, and July 20, 2019, said YES Bank is one of the registered and empanelled banks to carry out transactions,” one of them added.

Senior BJD leader Maheswar Mohanty , who earlier represented Puri in the assembly, however, questioned the temple administration’s decision to deposit such a huge amount in a private bank. “I don’t think it was a wise decision to deposit temple funds in a private bank. Temple officials should discuss the matter with RBI and ensure immediate shifting of the funds to nationalized banks,” he said.

Servitors, too, were unsparing in their criticism of the temple administration. “We had raised objections in the past when the temple administration decided to deposit huge sums of money in YES Bank just because it was offering better interest rates,” Binayak Dasmohapatra, a servitor, said.

Opposition BJP and Congress leaders questioned the manner in which the temple funds were deposited in YES Bank instead of nationalised banks. “We demand a thorough probe into how the temple funds were kept in a private bank,” BJP state president Samir Mohanty said.

“I strongly suspect that some corrupt temple officials had deposited the money for personal gains,” Congress MLA Suresh Rautray said.

In case of TTD, its chairman YV Subba Reddy took the decision of withdrawing Rs 1,300-crore fixed-deposit with YES Bank at a trust board meeting in October last year, a few months before the private sector lender’s crisis unfolded. At this meeting a thorough assessment was done on risks involved in FDs with private banks and it was decided to pull out of YES Bank, which saved the day for TTD.

