More than Rs 60 million has been collected from devotees for the reconstruction of the Goddess Manakamana temple in Gorkha district, the temple reconstruction committee has stated. The amount was donated by the devotees for the purpose.
The committee has now solicited for more cash donation from interested devotees to meet the expenses for purchasing gold required for gold-plating parts of the copper roof of the temple.
"We are short of budget required for buying gold for gold-plating the roof and we request the interested devotees to donate money for this purpose," coordinator of the temple reconstruction committee, Narendra Babu Shrestha, said.
However, the committee said that the monetary and gold offerings made by the devotees have not been spent in the reconstruction. The offerings in cash and kind are taken by the temple priest. So, the committee has requested the devotees to hand over their offerings in cash and kind to the committee so that it can be utilized for the temple reconstruction.
The roof of the temple is 4,000 square feet in area. A tola of gold can be used in plating three square feet as per the standard set by the Department of Archaeology. One tola is equal to 11.66 g.
According to the committee, minimum of 18-kg of gold will be required for gold-plating the temple roof.
So far, Rs 80 million has been spent in the reconstruction and the committee estimates that minimum Rs 120 million would be required for the entire reconstruction.
The government had provided Rs 40 million to the committee for this purpose. Sundar Krishna Shahi from Kathmandu donated copper plates required for the roof and Hirakaji Maharjan, also a resident of Kathmandu, donated the bricks required for the reconstruction.
Hundreds of devotees from Nepal and India come to the temple daily to pay homage to the Goddess Manakamana.
