Solution to the Theft Problem at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Ayodhya

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Mismanagement Issues.

(Chapter 4)

The theft at Ram Janmabhoomi was a product of a systemic failure at all professional levels. The management was inadequately equipped to handle the magnitude of the problem. Furthermore, they were solving the 21st century problems with 18th century methods. The solution provided here will tell why the entire batch of trustees should be sacked and young and professional people must be hired to the job professionally.

The solution exists, is commercially available in India, and could have been found on google in five minutes as it was found by me.

Professional Mechanical Solution

Desktop note counter¹ is for cashiers dispensing cash. It is not for industrial scale cash management. The solution for counting millions of loose notes is a specialized machine. A machine that accepts loose or stacked notes, counts and collates them into fixed-size bundles (with batching/banding), detects common counterfeit indicators, and outputs counts and bundles ready for strap/band application

It is a complete cash processing line used by central banks, large commercial banks, and high volume cash centres. It handles the entire journey of a loose note from the moment it enters the hopper to the moment it leaves as a verified, counted, banded bundle with a full audit trail.

Why State Bank did not suggest it? Bureaucracy lives in past. The search for solutions like a strict judge stick to precedents to do justice. A great judge distinguish the precedents. A solution provider thinks out of box and looks beyond the window and uses google to search.

The machine accepts loose notes in any orientation, separates them individually using vacuum or friction feed rollers, and passes each note through a sensor array at speeds of 1,000 to 2,000 notes per minute. The sensor array reads ultraviolet signatures to catch counterfeits, magnetic ink patterns to verify genuine currency, infrared transmission to detect double feeds and soiled notes, and size and thickness measurements to catch cut or damaged notes. Any note that fails any test is diverted to a reject pocket automatically. The operator does not decide. The machine decides.

Verified notes are counted into user-defined batches, typically 100 notes per bundle, stacked automatically, and either presented for manual strapping or fed into an automatic banding unit that applies a printed strap with the denomination, count, date, and operator code. Every bundle that leaves the machine is traceable. Every count is logged. The software exports the entire session record to a connected system for reconciliation.

A single floor-grade line processes roughly 1,500 notes per minute. For a temple receiving donations at the scale of Ram Janmabhoomi, three such lines running in parallel would process the entire day’s collection in hours with zero human discretion over the count at any stage.

Solving the problem

The fundamental problem in the counting room at Ayodhya² was human discretion. There were neither the right protocols nor the right machine.

Install the machine and place right protocols in place. An air-conditioned sealed room with few entry and exit points. An entry hopper to receive the contents of donation box to be dropped from a window. Once inside human help should sort out jewelry and other things from currency and send both things in two separate streams. One stream goes to a separate room for inventory and other into the room with giant counting machine.

Protocols

It appears the temple management has proved to be a naive when not negligent. It is important to point out the right protocols.

Every employee who has to work in aforesaid sealed room has to come in minimal clothes. s/he will place all his belonging in a locker. They have to take off clothes switch to one piece pocketless suit.

It is called a coverall or a boiler suit in common usage. The aviation specific version worn by airmen and pilots is called a flight suit or a flying suit. It is a one piece garment designed with no external pockets.

If cash counting staff at Ram Janmabhoomi had been required to wear coveralls with no pockets on entry and change back into their own clothes on exit under supervision, the primary theft vector disappears. You cannot pocket what you have no pocket for. It is the simplest physical control imaginable and costs perhaps five hundred rupees per garment.

Frisking employees on exit becomes less critical when the protocol is followed. Still occasional surprise search of one of many workers would prevent them from misusing their undergarments to hide anything. In any case metal detector can take care of jewelry etc.

Every employee has to be treated like a potential thief. It has to be said with due regret. This is KALYUG. The character of people changes in no time.

These recommendations need further fine tuning. Like the fabric for coverall. The protocols for tea and washroom breaks. These may be worked out compassionately.

A Note on Procurement

There are two distinct categories of currency counting and bundling machines and they are not interchangeable.

The first category is desktop and mid-range bundle counters available locally in India through distributors and online marketplaces. These handle modest volumes, typically retail, office, and small cash centre use. They cost between ₹20,000 and ₹60,000 for basic models and up to a few lakhs for heavier duty versions. These are available from Kavinstar, Arun Automation, Allespack Systems in New Delhi, and Godrej distributors including AKS Automation and Pranav Enterprises in Chennai. IndiaMART and Justdial list dozens of local suppliers for this category.

The second category is what Ram Janmabhoomi actually needs. Industrial grade currency processing lines with multi-pocket sorting, automatic banding, full spectrum counterfeit detection, and throughput of 1,000 to 2,000 notes per minute. The machine in the photograph above belongs to this category.

The global manufacturers of this equipment are Glory Global Solutions of Japan, De La Rue of Britain, Giesecke and Devrient of Germany, and Crane Currency of the United States. These companies supply RBI and large public sector banks directly. Procurement requires direct contact with their India office or regional representative, a formal requirement specification, site assessment, installation contract, and after sales service agreement.

This is not complicated. It is how RBI buys its equipment. A trust managing ₹327 crore annually can follow the same route. The machine in the photograph costs a fraction of one day’s donation receipts at Ayodhya. The machine was always available. Why nobody thought to buy it? I leave it there.

They can buy it from the stolen cash already recovered. ₹90 lakh is enough.

Footnotes: