Maha: Tulja Bhavani temple earned Rs 54 cr in 2022-23 against Rs 29 cr in previous year

The income of the famous Tulja Bhavani temple in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad district has nearly doubled to Rs 54 crore in 2022-23 as compared to Rs 29 crore in 2021-22, according to the temple administration.

Out of the Rs 54 crore earned in the last financial year, paid darshan by devotees accounted for Rs 15 crore while Rs 19 crore was donated by devotees in the donation boxes, Osmanabad Collector Dr Sachin Ombase, who is the president of temple sansthan, said on Saturday.

The centuries-old temple, located at Tuljapur in Osmanabad, attracts lakhs of visitors every year.

”We provide good facilities to devotees who come to offer prayers at the temple, and due to it the income has increased. Many people avail the paid darshan facility, for which the temple charges Rs 500 per person,” the collector said.

Between 2009 and 2022, the temple received 207 kilograms of gold and about 2,570 kg of silver and other silverware items, he said as per the calculation completed by the end of last month, he said. After the melting of 207 kg of gold, the temple will get 111 kg of pure 24 carat gold, the market price of which is about Rs 65 crore, he said. Before 2009, the temple received 47 kg of pure gold, which has been kept with the RBI and the temple gets an interest on it as per rules, Ombase said.

A master plan, being made with he permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), for boosting tourism in Tuljapur is in the last stage and will be completed soon, he said. The plan includes reconstruction of some parts of the temple, waiting hall for devotees, an informative museum, garden and other facilities, the collector added.