In reaction to reports of scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes being donated by devotees in temples, law Minister Pratap Jena on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
would be requested to exchange the old notes for new currencies.
Jena said the RBI is the last resort to exchange the old notes. But it depends on their decision. There is no other alternative as one cannot appeal against the RBI’s decision.
Notably, devotees are dropping the demonetised notes in donation boxes at Jagannath Temple in Puri, lingaraj Temple in the State capital and the Tarini temple in Keonjhar have received a huge amount of banned notes as donation.
Now, the temple trustees are worried about how to encash the devalued denominations.
“We have received about Rs 18 lakh in demonetised notes as offerings,” said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Administrator Pradeep Kumar Das.
“We had urged the RBI thrice for exchange of the banned notes. However, the RBI expressed its inability.” He said the Managing Committee would decide on the fate of the banned notes.
Sources said of the Rs 3-4 lakh that the temple receives in donations on an average every day, about Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 are old notes.
Similarly, the Tarini Temple in Keonjhar district has old currency worth Rs 75,000 put by devotees in the temple donation box.