Temple Managers Discuss Better Management and Legal Hurdles

The International Temples Convention and Expo was recently held at Tirupati.

- ASHOK CHATTERJEE

This monumental event brought together temples from 58 countries, representing Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Giresh Kulkarni, a visionary entrepreneur and the founder of Temple Connect, the International Temples Convention & Expo (ITCX) spoke to The Statesman about the meet.

Following are the excerpts:

Q. Tell us about Temple Connect and ITCX.

At Temple Connect and ITCX, we focused on educating temple managers on handling crowd situations effectively. By learning from such incidents like what happened at Tirupati temple, we aim to develop better strategies to ensure the safety and well-being of devotees while maintaining the sanctity of temple experiences.

The International Temples Convention and Expo is a dedicated platform for temple managers, focusing on both the spiritual and administrative aspects of temple management. Temples function in two key areas: The dharma side, which involves religious rituals, karmakand, vidhi-vidhan, and ceremonies conducted by priests, sages, and spiritual leaders; and the management side, which oversees administration, operations, maintenance, and devotee experience within the temple ecosystem.

The convention covered a wide range of topics, including finance, donations, transaction management, queue optimisation, safety, disaster preparedness, surveillance, parking solutions, EV stations, solar and renewable energy adoption and legal frameworks for temples. A key focus was on establishing a single-window legal support system to help temples navigate legal challenges efficiently.