With the ban on taking mobile phones inside temples coming into effect on September 1, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has started creating deposit counters at five major temples in Tiruchy district. The largest facility will come up at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, where counters will come up at the South, East and North entrances. Together, the counters will have a storage capacity of around 15,000 phones. Around 30 personnel from self-help groups will handle the centres.
At Samayapuram Mariamman Temple, four counters are being arranged – two at the U Complex and one each at the North and South gates. The facilities will have a combined storage capacity of around 8,000 phones, and 20 personnel would be deployed.
At the Jambukeswarar Temple in Thiruvanaikaval, the counters will be available at the West, East, North and South entrances. The total capacity would be 6,480 phones. Around 16 personnel will be deployed through self-help groups.
The Vekkali Amman Temple in Woraiyur will have two counters to store 3,600 phones. Sixteen personnel will operate the facility. At the Rockfort Temple, a counter is being established at Yanaimadam. The facility will have a capacity to store around 3,000 mobile phones and will be operated by four temple staff members.
All the deposit counters will be monitored through a CCTV network. Devotees will be charged Rs 5 per phone. Speaking to TNIE, a senior official in the HR&CE department in Tiruchy said, “Some temples already have mobile phone deposit facilities, but the arrangements were either non-functional or inadequate. They have been revived and expanded.”
“Most devotees come with their families. Depending on the number of devotees, especially during festival periods, the storage capacity will be increased accordingly,” the official said. The official said the restriction applies only to mobile phones and not any other electronic device.
“The restriction is welcome as devotees come to temples to prayer and peace, not to watch people taking reels. If the deposit counters ensure the safe return of phones without long waiting time, devotees will cooperate,” said S Giri, a devotee.
The minister announced that pursuant to High Court directives, mobile phone deposit counters are being set up across more than 50 senior-grade temples in the state to safeguard sanctity and prevent unauthorised photography or video recording inside sanctum sanctorum. All 52 temples will have a facial recognition mechanism that will scan devotees’ faces and issue a receipt through the integrated temple management system (ITMS), containing their name, mobile number and facial details.
At a later stage, the department plans to introduce an online payment system too, HR&CE commissioner Vinay T G said.
Mobile phones will be prohibited inside Sri Subramaniaswamy Temple at Thirupparankundram from September 1, 2026. The department has set up a system for devotees to leave their mobile phones at a designated counter near the footwear area at the temple’s main entrance. This counter will be staffed by an employee who will charge a fee of ₹5 for each phone and provide a receipt in return.
From September 1, visitors to the Vanabadrakaliamman Temple located in Thekkampatti, within the Mettupalayam taluk, will be prohibited from bringing mobile phones onto the temple grounds. To facilitate this process, the temple management is establishing two mobile phone deposit stations on-site for the convenience of worshippers.
Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal Temple has also banned mobile phones and cameras from September 1.
For devotees visiting Tiruchy’s major temples, the mobile phone deposit counters are a practical solution that balances security and convenience, even as the September 1 ban aims to restore the sanctity and spiritual atmosphere of Tamil Nadu’s ancient shrines.
