CM giving lip-service on protection to temples: Deshprabhu
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 10
National General Secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party Jeetendra Deshprabhu on Monday lashed out at Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for failing to do justice to his commitment of saving Hindu shrines from the spate of burglaries that have rattled the State.
Speaking in the capacity of President of Ravalnath Bhagvati Devalaya Committee of Pernem, Deshprabhu said the police machinery and the Government had both failed to protect the temples from being burgled and desecrated.
Deshprabhu said his committee that has 17 temples under its wing was rattled by the theft at the Sridev Mulvir temple between 8 pm and 9 pm at Pernem on Sunday. The same temple was in the past burgled on two occasions, including 2007 when jewellery items adorning the deity (Mulvir) were stolen.
He said looking at the incidents of the past it can be concluded that the police personnel are involved in these thefts. “The policemen posted in Pernem are more to be seen in the coastal areas collecting drug and party music money for themselves and their political masters,” he chided.
He claimed some of the police officers were paying protection money to the tune of Rs 1 lakh to some politicians. Deshprabhu had no answer when questioned on the rank of the officers paying protection money to the politicians.
Pointing a finger at the Home Minister Ravi Naik, Deshprabhu said the former was partly responsible for the temple thefts because most of the affairs of the police machinery were handled by the CM. The CM should stop lip-service and put his words into action, he stated.
When questioned whether the looted temple in Pernem never had its own security, he answered, “During the Portuguese regime the temples and its committees were completely insulated from government rule and as a result flourished financially, but with the advent of the tenancy law and other suppressive rules there is depletion in their revenue collection.”
He said this was the reason the temple committees cannot afford to put in place security measures costing Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month. From where are the temple committees going to get this kind of money every month, he questioned.
Deshprabhu reiterated that the Goa Police Department needs to have in place a time frame for investigation of the theft cases in temples and punish the officers concerned who have failed to achieve results.
He reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its frontal organisations were responsible for the desecrations of the temples in the State.
