The famed 220-year-old Siddhivinayak Temple will contribute Rs 5 crore towards the Maharashtra government’s recently-launched Rs 10 ‘Shiv Bhojan Thali’, a top temple official said here on Tuesday.
“A unanimous decision to this effect has been taken by the temple management today to donate the amount to the CM to be utilised for the ‘Shiv Bhojan’ scheme for the poor,” Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust (SSGTT) Chairman and film actor Aadesh Bandekar said here.
He added that the temple authorities were impressed by the welfare scheme intended to give a wholesome meal costing Rs 10 per person to people all over the state and hence decided to contribute its mite to the initiative. “The proposal will now go to the state Law & Judiciary department for approval and then to the Government. We hope to make a contribution to the Government at an early date,” Bandekar said.
The pet scheme of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, ‘Shiva Bhojan’ thali was launched on January 26, and has become extremely popular among the poor masses with daily sales of more than 15,000 plates at around 140 distribution centres in the state in the pilot project.