Tourists visiting temples like Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam or the Kapaleeswarar temple in Chennai will have guides accompanying them to explain the temple history and other details. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department (HR&CE) will certify the guides, said M S M Anandan, HR&CE minister in the assembly on Thursday.

A board on the temple premises will give details such as the names of guides, their phone numbers and their professional charges. "In the first instance, the HR&CE department will certify guides in 16 temples across the state, including Tiruvannamalai , Madurai, Trichy Rockfort temple and six Murugan temples," said the minister. 

Only people who are fluent in Tamil and English will be chosen as guides, a HR&CE official told TOI. "As our department has been merged with the tourist ministry recently, this decision will help many foreign and Indian tourists visiting ancient temples in the state. The guides should have awealth of information about the temples as well as their history and also about their locations . Only after ascertaining that the guides have this basic knowledge, we will certify them," said the official. "We hope to certify guides as soon as a government order is issued in this regard," he said.

As of now there are many guides in major temples who explain the history of the places and the monuments. But none of them are certified by any department and some are fake and fleece tourists, noted the official.

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