Kathmandu, May 21

The earning of the Pashupatinath Temple through monetary offering from the devotees have gone above Rs. 5.1 million during April/May (Baishak month) after the implementation of new Pashupatinath Temple and Worship Management regulation.

The regulation had come into effect on April 8 after the Ministry of Culture gave its approval.

Before the implementation of the regulation, the annual income of the Pashuspatinath was said to be around only Rs. 2, 00,000 per year. Now the situation has changed as around Rs.1, 35,000 to 1, 40,000 in cash is being collected every day, said Prabesh Ram Bhandari, board member PADT.

A good amount of cash offering is collected on Mondays and Saturdays in comparison to other days. The amount of monetary offering will be many folds during the festival times and special religious days, he said.

According to Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the continuous banda has also affected the earning of the temple.

The income through the offerings of gold, silver and other valuable items are yet to be counted because the offerings of gold and other valuable items are registered into the earning through separate counter. Small amount of gold and other items are offered daily. However no big amount of offering in precious metals have been made so far after the regulation came into effect, Bhandari said.

According to him, the monetary offering made by devotees is counted once in a day. Each day the cash offering is counted after 2 pm and then the money is deposited at the PADT’s bank account on the same day.

PADT has aimed to collect more than Rs. 60 million monetary offering within a year, Bhandari said adding that PADT can easily collect more cash offering than its target, he said.

The collected money would be utilised for the development of Pashupati area and maintain the physical infrastructure of several temples, inn and others of situation inside the premises, he informed.