Around Rs 590 crore belonging to the Jagannath Temple which had been deposited in various nationalised banks has now been parked in the Yes Bank, which is a private bank, kicking off a row here.
Why such a huge fund was sent to the private bank after drawing from nationalised banks and what prompted the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to do so have come in for public scrutiny.
There is an allegation that in exchange of huge deposit, the private bank has given huge bounty to the SJTA officials. However, the temple administration sources said that the fund was deposited in a private bank to get higher rate of interest and that the Yes Bank in which the money was deposited was an approved bank of the Government.
Sources revealed that during period of Pradipta Mohapatra as Chief Administrator (CA) of the SJTA, an official decision had been taken to deposit about Rs 590 crore in the Yes Bank eyeing 8.65 per cent interest per annum. The money which was earlier in several banks with lower rate of interest was deposited in the Yes Bank in March, 2019 for one year term deposit. The deposit was going to mature in March 2020 when the SJTA would receive huge money towards interest.
Sources also said that the SJTA took such a decision following a guideline of State Government in 2018-19 fiscal which had sent a list of bankers for transactions.
The matter came up in last managing committee when one member raised a question on the issue. Sources also said the audit report mentioning deposit in the private bank had also come in for discussion in past managing committee meet.