Hyderabad: More than 6,000 temple priests in Telegana have launched a protest to demand pay on par with other government employees.
They have sported black badges, raised slogans and conducted motorbike rallies to highlight their demands.
They claim that a regular employee gets a salary of around 20,000 rupees a month while they are paid only less than 5,000 rupees a month.
Chakradari Acharyulu, a priest at Venkateswara Temple in Chikkadpally, says no one is ready to get married into their family. “That is because we get very less salary. It is very difficult to make our living. Especially in a city like Hyderabad, to survive one needs at least 10,000 – 15,000 rupees.”
Since Thursday, 2,000 relatively big temples and 10,000 smaller ones have been closed for most part of the day. The sanctum sanctorum is being kept open for a minimum time only, ndtv.com reported.
“We are doing morning pooja and have done away with archana seva, aarthi puja. All that is closed. In the morning when we open the temple, we are taking care of devotees,” one priest said.
Bhanumurthy, president of the joint action committee of Telangana archakas and endowment employees, says they had hoped with the birth of Telangana, their prayers would be answered. “We have been asking for this for the last 15-20 years. Even after Telangana, our salary has not increased. We feel if we reach the chief minister’s ears, our issue will be resolved.”
“No one will want to work as archaka. Then how will temples survive?” asks Ranga Reddy, president of Telangana Archakas Association.
Time waits for no man they say, but God perhaps will have to be patient to get full-fledged services restarted till the prayers of the priests are heard by powers on this earth.