Ghaziabad temple starts accepting donations via Paytm
A temple located in Ghaziabad, Delhi NCR has started accepting donations through electronic wallet app Paytm due to the fall in donations owing to demonetisation. The donations have dropped "drastically" in December, with a week?s collection being restricted to not more than ?1,200 as against about ?3,000 earlier, the priest at the temple, located in the Indirapuram area, said. 
Instead of fishing for cash in their pockets to donate at temples, devotees can use  mobile phones to transfer donations to the e-wallets of the holy places. Not being able to collect enough donations due to the cash crisis, temples in Indirapuram have provided the option of e-wallets. The priest at Shri Hanuman Balaji Temple in Gyan Khand-4 in Indirapuram has put up information on the donation box of the temple asking devotees to pay through Paytm. According to the temple priest, the move was initiated because the amount of donations fell after demonetisation was announced on November 8.?When the note ban was announced many people donated old notes. In November,  since many were donating Rs500 or Rs1,000 notes, we did not have to worry much as we would then deposit them with the bank. However, in December, the donations dropped drastically with a week?s collection being restricted to not more than Rs1,200 as compared to about Rs3,000 earlier,? said Arvind Pandey, temple priest at Balaji Temple. Pandey said the number of people holding community feasts has also reduced.?Money from community feasts (bhandara) used to be a major source of donations as one such feast would get us between Rs3,000 and Rs5,000. However, due to lack of cash, people have stopped holding it,? he said.