Underground museum for Padmanabha Swami Temple

Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam, told the media that the Central Government is willing to build a high-security underground museum near the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram so that devotees can have ‘darshan’ of the treasure.

The minister has met Travancore royal family members Pooyam Thirunal Gowri Parvathi Bayi and Avittom Thirunal Aditya Varma on Sunday and expressed his ministry’s willingness to bear the cost of the museum, which is proposed to be Rs 300 crores.

“The museum will be in the typical Kerala architectural style with high security system better than that of the Reserve Bank of India. I have discussed the proposal with the royal family and we are only in the initial stage of discussion. Confidence of the Royal family and the devotees to be sought,” said the minister, who added he had held discussions with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also.

“The drawing for the museum is complete and the ministry is ready to bear the entire expense. It will be finalized only after having consensus of all the concerned parties, including the Royal Family,” added the minister.

The Royal family is said to be against any proposal to take the treasure out of the temple, however they do not have any objection to display them for the devotees inside the temple.

However, the issue of auditing the value of the treasure has been before the Supreme Court and it is essential to get permission of the court prior to doing anything related to the treasure.

While the matter of museum is yet to be finalized, the Union Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 9.7 crores for the development activities in the temple. This will be spent for arranging more facilities for the elderly and differently abled devotees who visit the temple.

The decision came as per the proposals by the Union Minister, Alphons Kannanthanam, who has visited the temple recently. This is part of the Union Ministry’s ‘Swadesh Darshan’ programme for the encouragement of temple tourism.

It was already decided to convert the Temple Granery and Panjajanyam Convention Center to resting place for the devotees. Rs 7.6 crores will be spending for this purpose. The Rs 9.7 crores development of the works will be in addition to that. A resting place in the heritage building in the north side, a handloom emporium etc. will be built with Rs 1.75 crores.

Rs 1.4 crores will be spend for constructing a resting place, cafeteria and waste disposal system. A devotee help center at Killippalam will be made with 2.25 crores. 2.4 crores for a spiritual center in ‘Nambi Math’, 1.34 crores for the renovation works in walkways and related buildings in the four sides of the temple and 50 lakshs for facilitating the visit of elderly people and differently-abled persons are the pattern of spending for the works. All these works are planned to be completed in 2019, along with the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ programme of the Union Ministry.