Rs. One Lakh Crore Treasure Found In Kerala Temple

Call it the mother of all treasure hunts. The stock-taking by a panel of experts at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy templehas catapulted the shrine located here to the country's richest, with reports claiming that the value of recoveries may have touched close to Rs 1 lakh crore, more than Kerala public debt of Rs 70,969 crore.

With one more "secret" vault yet to be opened, the figure in all likelihood will go up further. But sources said the figures could only be speculation as it wasn't possible to determine the antique value of the precious gems and jewellery. "These are antique pieces and it's not possible to determine their prices," said historian and former director of Indian Council of Historical Research M G S Narayanan. In other words, the worth of the treasure could be intimidatingly higher.

The Supreme Court-appointed committee on Sunday refused to confirm reports about the value of the recoveries, saying that its mandate is limited to making an inventory of the assets.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said the treasure would remain with the temple. "The wealth belonged to the temple and it will be preserved where it was found. There is religious and historical significance to the findings. The state will ensure its security," Chandy told reporters on Sunday.

Chandy said the police would patrol the shrine 24X7 and a control room had already started functioning. "Permanent security arrangements will be put in place only after consultations with the chief priest of the temple and the Travancore king who is the caretaker of the shrine," the CM said.

A source said the seven-member panel was stunned by what it found in the secret vault marked `A' during its inspection on Thursday. There were close to 1,000 kg of gold coins, some of these from the East India Company era and Napolean's period, about one tonne of gold in the form of rice trinkets, sack full of diamonds said to be from Burma and Sri Lanka, a rope made of gold and thousands of pieces of rare 'sarappoli' necklaces.

The stock-taking continued next day as only 30% of the assets could be counted on Thursday. Again there were surprises in the form of a three-and-a-half feet tall idol of Lord Vishnu studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, an 18-feet-long ornament used to adorn the deity and weighing 35 kg and 1 feet tall human figurines weighing 1 kg each. There were coins marked 1772 indicating they were from the era of former Travancore ruler Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma better known as `Dharma Raja' for his strict adherence to the rules of 'dharma'.

Entry was strictly forbidden for the media and public to the site. There are six vaults marked A to F in the shrine. The A and B cellars have never been opened after 1872. The panel had set out on the job on June 27 and opened three vaults marked C, D and F till Wednesday.

The observers, retired Kerala high court judge Justice M N Krishnan and Justice C S Rajan, said it was difficult give an exact date when the stock-taking would be completed. The B and E vaults remain to be opened.

Narayanan said there were specific documents called 'Mathilakam records' which speak about the history of the shrine and about how the assets came into it. "The temple has been known since the 9th Century and figures in the writings of that time. Native ruler of Travancore (then pricely state) Marthanda Varma had given away all the wealth to the deity and ruled the kingdom as the Lord's agent."

"Travancore was a very prosperous state and with its port facilities, traded in spices, sandalwood and ivory. The foreign currency recovered from the vaults may have come in through the trade route," he added.

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KERALA POST OFFICE: Life beyond Letters

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again...

Postal Orders are all the rage in rural India
Earlier the post office had limited roles to play in society. Usually, it was involved in sales of stamps, cards, inlands, transaction of money orders and running saving banks. But now all this has changed for good as the postal department is entering into all service activities. Opened in 1854 by Britain in India, the department is preparing itself for the changing times. During the P&T era, postal orders had been started for safe money transactions. The same time VPP was also started.

But from time to time the department has changed itself. Of late it has introduced the Postal Life Insurance that assures fewer premiums and more coverage. Parcel service was the continuation of post office's status as a retail outlet. Speed Post was launched to compete with private players who dominated the courier industry. In 1993'94, postal department embraced modernisation by adopting computerisation.

Then in 2001, the government controlled postal department entered into a joint venture with Western Union Money Transfer, an MNC which facilitated the easy money handling. Now, in the wake of Malhotra Committee recommendations, the department is working overtime to promote Rural Postal Life Insurance. E-post is another value addition. Scanned prints of any manuscript can be delivered to the addressee in a short period. Corporate electronic post is also available at affordable rates. Many government departments use them for routine mails of homogenous nature.

Bill mail service ' bulk dispatch of mobile phone bills ' is a great service for phone enthusiasts. In some states, even electricity and water bills are accepted in POs. In Kerala, BSNL phone bills are accepted. POs carry out address verifications for election commissions, mobile providers and municipalities. In Delhi, corporation taxes are also collected through POs. Media Post is a product under which post cards carry messages. POs exhibit sign boards as well. NREG payments are paid through them. In North East, even chartered flights are deployed for letter parcel transfer. This year, postal department in Kerala successfully distributed school textbooks after collecting from the production centre.

Sachar Commission Madrasa's pension was distributed by POs. It has become a rage as even scholarships are distributed through POs. Electronic MOs up to Rs 5,000 with 50 character messages are handled by POs. National pension scheme, foreign exchange dealing, MO abroad, sale of investment gold coins and passport processing are being carried out too. Now, a sophisticated monitoring system called Project Arrow is being implemented. India has 155,000 POs against US' 39,000 and China's 53,000.

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