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OMG! CM hears priests prayers; Babus apathetic
The priests got their prayers heard by the State’s political almighty, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, when they launched an indefinite strike in June to press for their charter of demands, but not by the people who call the shots in the administration.
Warangal: The priests got their prayers heard by the State’s political almighty, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, when they launched an indefinite strike in June to press for their charter of demands, but not by the people who call the shots in the administration.
Payment of salaries of priests and employees falling under 6A, 6B and 6C temples through treasury and an increase in honorarium of the Archakas working in temples that come under Dhoopa Deepa Naivedyam (DDN) scheme which have no source of income, were among the major demands of the priests then.
The government, which agreed in principle to hike the honorarium of the Archakas under DDN from Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000 a month, and salaries of temple priests and staff, has constituted a three-member committee headed by the joint secretary (Finance) Ch V Sai Prasad and deputy secretary (Endowments) V Venkateswarlu and deputy commissioner of Endowments M Ramakrishna Rao as members to study the feasibility.
The committee was supposed to submit its report in a month. Following this assurance, the priests ended their strike. Since then it’s been more than two-and-a-half month; however, there was no report submitted by the committee on the pretext that the Endowment department didn’t provide them with the details of the priests and employees, it is learnt.
Meanwhile, the government had released GOs 134 and 135 providing 43 per cent fitment (PRC-2015) to the priests and the employees. But the GO has a rider. The salaries of priests and employees should not exceed 30 per cent of that temple’s income in which they are working. Yadadri, Bhadrachalam and Vemulawada temples have been exempted from this rider.
Referring to the rider, DVR Sharma, chief priest of Palakurthi Somanatha Lakshmi Narsimha Swamy temple, questioned the rationale behind government’s decision. “There’s hardly any benefit to Archakas with the GOs,” he said demanding the government to repeal the rider and issue salaries. Gangu Bhanu Murthy, Archaka Udyoga JAC state convener, said, “We have waited enough.
We have decided to go on strike from August 25 if the government fails to react positively.” Around 6,000 priests and employees working in 670 temples across the state will take part in the strike. It is learnt that the government was also not paying the honorarium to the small temples, which have no source of income.
By:Adepu Mahender
