How much EXACTLY is Kerala temple treasure worth?

The process of valuation of the treasures found at the Sri Padmanabhaswami Temple at Thiruvananthapuram will officially commence from February 20.

M Velayudhan Nair, coordinator of the experts committee appointed by the Supreme Court, on Thursday said that apart from the members of the committee, three additional experts will participate in the valuation process.

Trial valuation has already commenced on Thursday and the results of this would be informed to the apex court on February 15.

Reportage: George Joseph

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The Kerala State Electronic Corporation, the nodal agency for buying various modern equipment to aid in the valuation of the treasures, had already bought the equipment and made arrangements for the commencement of valuation of gold, silver, precious stones and other valuable items lying in the five secret chambers of the temple.

He said the trial valuation is for ensuring the correctness of the various machines installed for valuation.

For this, the chambers will not be opened. He added that technicians for the process had already been appointed and were given training to handle the equipment.

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According to a direction of the Supreme Court, the five secret lockers of Sri Padmanabhaswami Temple were opened in June-July last year.

Considering a private petition filed by late T P Sundarrajan, the court had appointed former high court judges C S Rajan and M N Krishnan as observers, and additional chief secretary of Kerala, K Jayakumar; director of archaeology J Rejikumar; the executive officer of the temple, Harikumar, responsible for opening the secret lockers.

The largest of the six chambes -- B chamber -- is yet to be opened. The Supreme Court had restrained the opening of this chamber.

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The experts committee will also consider opening the B chamber and will submit its report to the Supreme Court.

A rough estimate of the treasure found in the five chambers puts their value at Rs 1,00,000 crore. This includes thousands of gold and silver ornaments and utensils and precious stones like ruby, emerald, diamond, pearl, etc.

The temple, which has a history of around a thousand years, is one of the most famous Lord Vishnu temples in south India.

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