Shimla, July 12 -- Taking a lesson from irregularities in donations in Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Himachal Pradesh government has issued a comprehensive standard operating procedure (SOP) to strengthen security, transparency, and management systems at all state-managed temples.

Under the new guidelines, all donation boxes must be tamper-proof, securely fixed and assigned unique identification numbers. They must operate under a dual-lock or multi-key system, with proper records maintained for every access.

The SOP mandates that donation boxes be opened only on pre-approved dates in the presence of an authorised committee comprising temple officials, representatives of the district administration, accountants, temple management members an...