The administration of the Lord Venkateswara shrine in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, is in a fix over what to do with Rs 4 crore that worshipers deposited in demonetised notes at the temple in the last two months. D Sambasiva Rao, executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which administers the shrine, on Thursday said they had written to the Centre and Reserve Bank of India and are awaiting a reply, PTI reported.

The donations in the temple’s hundi (mud pots) were made after the December 30 deadline to deposit the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in banks. Since then, the Centre has notified a law making it illegal to possess more than 10 of the banned notes. It is now a punishable offence that involves a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.

Temple officials believe that a majority of the banned notes deposited at the Tirupati shrine over the last two months was currency that devotees had kept in their prayer rooms at home as offerings to Lord Venkateswara. Annually, pilgrims visiting the shrine deposit more than Rs 1,000 crore in the hundi, in addition to gold and silver, a temple official said.