* * *City temples vie for ISO status*
*B Sivakumar, TNN, 12 February 2010, CHENNAI: Cleanliness, they say, is next to godliness. Taking the adage seriously, the three biggest temples in the city have applied for ISO 9000:2008 certification. ISO officials have already conducted inspections at the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane and the Dhandayudhapani temple in Vadapalani, and a team is expected to visit the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore this month. According to PR Shampath, commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE), the three temples were selected following a recent announcement made by HR&CE minister KR Periakaruppan in the assembly. "These are some of the well-maintained temples in the city; so the department asked their officials to apply for ISO certificates," Shampath said. Recently, the Siddhi Vinayak temple at Gandhipuram, Coimbatore, was awarded the ISO certificate. ISO 9001:2008 is a world class quality management system for companies/organizations who have an objective of improving their customer satisfaction. The International Standards Organization (ISO) has defined the elements of an effective quality management system and calls it the ISO 9000 family of standards. The standards issued in 1994 were revised in December 2000, and again in November 2008. The three city temples have included their fixed assets, accounts and strict adherence to rituals for scrutiny by the ISO. An official of Kapaleeswarar temple said, "The administration has included the Karunai Illam (students’ home), kalyana mandapam and the temple tank for assessment. We are expecting the ISO team to inspect the temple this week." Kapaleeswarar temple is among the richest in the city. "Its annual income is around Rs 4 crore and it has fixed deposits to the tune of Rs 25 crore. It earned Rs 17 crore from the sale of land for construction of the Mass Rapid Transit System," Shampath said. The cleaning and mopping of the Kapaleeswarar and Parthasarathy temples have been outsourced to a private firm, which also maintains the Tirumala temple. A popular hotel chain maintains the Vadapalani temple free of cost. The temple has included stores, administration, details of its premises, adherence to rituals, festivals and distribution of free ‘vibuthi’ and ‘kumkum’ for inspection by the ISO team. The HR&CE department has asked the temples to spend from their resources in case modifications are suggested by the ISO authorities. "The Kapaleeswarar temple has not incurred any additional cost towards getting the ISO certificate. It has till now paid only the processingfee, which is a small amount," the temple official said. When asked whether the Palani Dhandayudhapani and Madurai Meenakshi temples would also apply for ISO certificates, Shampath said, "We will ask others to apply once the temples in the city get the certificates.* **
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