Unruly students cause temples to reconsider serving meals

Unruly students cause temples to reconsider serving meals

www.mangaloretoday.com

Mangaluru, Nov 5, 2017: With devotees and management bearing the brunt of unruly behaviour of students who line up for lunch-hour prasadam, two temples under the endowment department are reconsidering their decision of serving meals to students.

Kadri Sri Manjunatha temple and Kudupu Sri Ananthapadmanabha temple attract thousands of devotees every day, and the numbers rise two-fold on special occasions. The temple managements have recently received several complaints from devotees as well as staff serving meals that students are being rude to them.

"The prasadam is prepared for devotees who come here after observing fast. Of late, we have noticed that thousands of students from nearby schools and colleges, while queuing up for lunch, push devotees. They lack discipline and they do not follow seating arrangements. They have even tried to assault our staff and devotees whenever their demands were not met," alleged A J Shetty, managing trustee of Kadri Sri Manjunatha temple.

On an average, prasadam is prepared and served to around 2,000 people. Nearly a thousand among them are students, said a temple official. The number increases to 5,000 to 8,000 during weekends and on special occasions. "We don’t object to them (students) coming for lunch but can’t accept them causing inconvenience to devotees, who come from far-off places. We are allowed to serve food to high school students but we even see college students in the queue," Shetty added.


The temple management committee, which met recently, has sent a circular to nearly eight nearby educational institutions. The committee has apparently sought a list of poor students. "If they (students) don’t change their behaviour despite warnings, we may be forced to put restrictions on lunch," A J Shetty said.

When asked why students are skipping midday meals served at schools and coming to the temple instead, Shetty reacted that students were probably unhappy with it.

Faced with a similar situation, the administrative committee of Kudupu Sri Ananthapadmanabha temple has written to the block education officer to stop students from having lunch at the temple premises, confirmed an official.