Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court had asked the government to redraft the Endowment Act. Hence, the opinions of heads of temples, mutts and seers, the and public, were being collected, he said. Replying to queries that some television channels were telecasting news that the State government was planning to take over the mutts especially the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple in Udupi, Mr. Madhwaraj said that he was not aware of such a move. When pressed for his reaction as a devotee on this issue, Mr. Madhwaraj said that the government would have to look into both the legal angle and the sentiments of the devotees equally. People were very devoted to the mutts. We will have to take a decision taking both the views into consideration but without hurting the sentiments of anyone, he said. On the Opposition parties using this issue and branding the Congress government as anti-Hindu,’ Mr. Madhwaraj said that no other government had done as much work for the Hindus as the Siddaramaiah government. It is our government which increased the Tastik’ (maintenance) for temples from ?10,000 to ?48,000, he said. Subsidised kerosene On fishermen not getting subsidised kerosene, Mr. Madhwaraj said that the Union government had reduced the quota of kerosene being provided to the States because it wanted to promote the zero kerosene’ concept. This had affected the supplies of subsidised kerosene as the officers were working out how to distribute kerosene to the fishermen and also to the people under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Despite the reduced quota, the quantity of subsidised kerosene being provided to fishermen was unlikely to be affected, but it might take some time to sort out the matter, he said. Earlier, Mr. Madhwaraj laid foundation stone for various works worth ?8 crore in Udupi City Municipal Council limits. He said that a new market would be constructed at Santhekatte within a month at a cost of ?1 crore. He also inaugurated the Dry Waste and E-Waste Collection Centre building near Karavali Junction here.
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