Odisha seeks release of Srimandir deposits in Yes Bank

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging the latter for release of Rs 545 crore deposited by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in the crisis-hit Yes Bank.

“Various funds related to temple i.e. Foundation Fund, Corpus Fund and Temple Fund are being managed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee. Out of these funds, an amount of Rs 545 crores have been deposited with Yes Bank, Puri in shape of TDRs,” Pujari mentioned in the letter.

“These deposits are maturing in the month of March, 2020 itself. In the meantime, Yes Bank Ltd has been placed under Moratorium by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and certain restrictions have been imposed by RBI for withdrawal of funds from Yes Bank. It is pertinent to mention here that Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is a statutory authority working under provisions of an Act of the state government. This is an issue of religious importance for devotees of Lord Jagannath,” Pujari added.

He requested Sitharaman to issue necessary instruction to the Reserve Bank of India to allow release of deposits relating to SJTA in Yes Bank in the interest of millions of devotees of Lord Jagannath.