Take old notes but return new legal ones, temples tell devotees

In a role reversal, some Jain temples in the city are requesting devotees to take a share of the donation worth crores they have received in the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to use but they want the amount back in few months with the new legal tender.

Many neighbourhood temples are holding meetings with their local devotees and asking them to take anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 and return the amount next year.

"We have been asked by the temple trust to take an amount, even use it without interest and return the amount by April," a source told Times of India.

Some of the temples are taking this route because not all the cash in their hands is from the donation box. Much of it is from the huge bids that wealthy Jain businessmen make to sponsor different pujas or rituals on auspicious occasions.

It's becoming difficult for most temples to manage the amount of cash they have collected in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes after the demonetisation. And they are all looking at their devotees as a means to help them," another source from a south Mumbai temple trust, told Times of India.

What most devouts would hate to discuss is the fact that it will mean more running around for citizens who are already troubled by demonetisation. The other difficulty in this initiative is for the salaried with only one source of income, they might face difficulties in explaining these sudden funds.