Karnataka; Cell phones are Banned in Temples

On Monday the Department of Religious and Charitable Endowments issued an order. The order states that mobile phones cannot be used on the premises of temples which come under the department.

There are more than 30 thousand temples under the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charities Department of the Government of Karnataka. Temples are classified into A, B and C according to income.

The management of notified institutions under the purview of the Religious Endowment Department is governed by the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 and Rules, 2002.

All the temples have already put up signboards not to use mobile phones. But people still use mobile. It makes a ringing noise. Hence the ban on mobile usage has been imposed.

What’s in the order?; Revenue Department (Religious Endowment) Under Secretary K. P. Hemantaraju issued an order in this regard on Monday. Mobile usage in temple premises is increasing nowadays. When the devotees arrive at the temple, the staff and the devotees who come to see God are having difficulty in conducting meditation and pujadi due to the noise of mobile usage.

In this background, the devotees who come to see God in the temples under the purview of the Religious Endowment Department have been instructed to switch off their mobile phones during God’s darshan.

Mandatory banning of mobile phones should be installed in temples. In this order, it has been directed that the devotees who come to the temples should be informed so that they can visit the temple with peace of mind.

For a long time, some temples in the state had banned the use of mobile phones only inside the temple. However, now the religious and charity department has officially banned the use of mobile phones.