Kerala not to take over Padmanabhaswamy temple: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram, April 20 (IANS) Newly-appointed Kerala Home Minister T.Radhakrishnan Friday said the state government would not take over the management of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, which has been in the news after priceless treasures were unearthed from its vaults July last year.

'The state government has no plan at all to take over the temple management. Our job is to provide the security to the temple and that we will do it with utmost earnestness,' Radhakrishnan told reporters while visiting the 16th century temple in Thiruvananthapuram after taking charge as the state's new home minister.

Currently, the affairs of the temple are run by an executive committee which includes members of the temple management and representatives of the royal family of Travancore.

Following the discovery of the treasure, an expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court in its report had suggested a security ring for the temple vaults at par with those available for the strong rooms of the Reserve Bank of India.

An apex court appointed panel began opening six chambers in the temple last year to make an inventory of the stock. The decision on opening the last of the six chambers is pending with the apex court.

According to the court-appointed panel, the entire stock-taking process is being videographed and a bar code is placed on the articles found, to make the valuation more authentic.

The unofficial estimate puts the valus of the gems and jewellery found so far in the five chambers of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at Rs.1 lakh crore ($22 billion), making it one of the richest temples in the country.