CANADIAN TEMPLE IN NEED OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS

A Hindu temple, which was burnt down after 9/11, was repeatedly rejected financial help from the provincial government even though millions were handed out to other multicultural groups, alleges the Ontario-based temple's outgoing secretary. "I see everyday in the newspapers that the government is handing out money to various organisations and I appreciate it, but why are you forgetting us?" Ram Kamath of Hamilton's Hindu Samaj Temple said. Community members are upset by reports that other multicultural organisations that received grant money apparently had links to the Liberal party, Ram added. "The Ontario government has ignored the community's pleas for help," the Toronto Star newspaper quoted Kamath as saying.

The government has said that no money was available for religious projects, adding that the funds could only go to community groups. Kamath said the temple doubled as a community centre - with free services, including classes in traditional languages, religion, song and dance. MP Andrea Horwath said she has raised the temple's cause in the legislature several times. "They (the temple authorities) are very frustrated because the message they continued to get for the last five years is that there are no funds available," she said. "They were extremely shocked to find out that for a select few, in fact, there were funds available to the groups that I guess had an inside track," the MP added.