Lord Jagannath's money to be deposited in UBI now

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Friday said it has decided that the Lord's funds which had been kept in the crisis-hit Yes Bank will be deposited in the Union Bank of India, a PSU bank.

The decision was taken a day after the private lender transferred a Rs 389-crore fixed deposit account of the SJTA. The fixed deposit account has accrued a total interest of Rs 8.23 crore.

The temple has two more fixed deposits totalling Rs 156 crore in the Yes Bank which will remit the principal amount along with interest on maturity on March 30, an official said.

The fixed deposits with the Yes Bank has raised a hue and cry as their tenure ends this month. However, the bank had been placed under a moratorium on March 5, with the RBI capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month.

"Now, the temple fund and corpus fund will be kept in the UBI with a term fixed deposit for three years," Temple Unnayan Prasasak (development administrator) Ajay Kumar Jena said.

He, however, said the amount to be deposited in the UBI is yet to be decided.

"The Temple administration had invited tenders from the nationalised banks such as the UBI, Indian Bank and the Canara Bank. As per the tender results, the UBI agreed to keep the fund at the interest rate of 5.75 per cent per annum," Jena said.

He said the temple's Foundation Fund to the tune of Rs 102 crore will be deposited in the State Bank of India.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik of the BJP has alleged that though the Yes Bank remitted the temple's fund, it did not pay the interest at the rate of 8.61 per cent as announced by the state government.

"Since Yes Bank has paid the interest at the rate of only 2 per cent, the state government should compensate the Lord's money," Naik said demanding action against the officials responsible for parking the Lord's money in the private bank.

The Odisha government earlier this month said it has no role in depositing Lord Jagannath's Rs 545 crore in the Yes Bank and said the fund was deposited in it as the private lender had offered the highest rate of interest in a tender process.