Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple: Committee decides on procedure to evaluate temple treasure

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The expert committee, set up by the Supreme Court to evaluate the value of treasures found in the vault of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, on Friday took stock of the security situation and zeroed in on the procedure to be followed for the assessment.

Security arrangements made so far were satisfactory and the committee members arrived at an agreement after a meeting on the procedure to be followed for evaluating the treasures, Committee head and Director of National Museums C V Ananda Bose told reporters.

The meeting took stock of the arrangements made so far, he said, adding, 'we will go ahead as per schedule'.

The committee would go ahead with the process after getting the action plan was examined by the apex court.

Meanwhile, state government has sanctioned Rs 1.54 crore to purchase modern cameras and other equipments to strengthen security at the Temple.

The decision to sanction the amount was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here yesterday.

Permanent police staff would be appointed for temple security and additional posts of 233 police personnel would be created for the purpose, official sources said.

Second review of the security proposals submitted by police would be held next week. Experts on security matters also would be invited for the meeting, sources said.

Earlier, a seven-member panel, which included two former high court judges, had opened five of the six vaults for an inventory and found them containing priceless articles.