Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada District Superintendent of Police Dr S D Sharanappa said that though directions were issued for installing Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and appointing security staff, nothing was being done. The temple authorities are not giving any serious thought to the security measures.

He was speaking in a meeting organised at Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday, January 12 to review the security measures implemented by authorities of various temples in the district.

CCTVs are installed not only for security purpose but also for other reasons such as monitoring the flow of devotees during different time intervals, which in turn will be helpful to deploy more security personnel during peak hours, Dr Sharanappa said.

The other measures suggested by the SP were installation of movement sensors near windows, floors, walls and auto sensor fire extinguishers.

Dr Sharanappa also suggested the temple authorities to empty donation boxes every fortnight and Dakshina Kannada District Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim suggested that the temples should enter into an agreement with the banks wherein the money from the donation boxes would be deposited into an account on the same day it was taken from the donation box.

The DC said temple thefts were crucial problems and needed to be dealt seriously as theft cases not only brought bad name to the temples but also hurt religious sentiments.