Archakas on strike for salaries

Mahbubnagar: Priests in Mahbubnagar, Gadwal, Wanaparthy and Nagarkurnool districts launched an indefinite strike on Friday in support of their demand that the State government immediately implement the GO 577 and pay pending dues of honorarium. They complained that the they were not paid honorarium for the last 11 months.

In Gadwal, more than 100 priests from various temples staged a sit-in protest. They said the government had released GO 577 last year in September, promising to pay monthly salaries to all the priests working in the recognised temples across the State, The Endowments Department officials failed to implement the GO.

Aggrieved over the adamant attitude of the Endowments officials, the priest across the State decided to strike, according to Priests Association. Earlier the priests protested by wearing black badges from between August 5 and 8. However, the Endowments Department officials turned a blind eye to their protest and ignored their appeal.

Over this, the Priests Associations (Archaka Sangam) in four districts of Mahbubnagar, Gadwal, Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy decided to go on an indefinite strike and stopped all the services to the devotees. “In Alampur, we have stopped all our pooja services to the devotees in Jogulamaba Temple as a mark of protest against the adamant attitude of the Endowments Department officials.

Despite our repeated requests and silent protest during the past 11 months, the officials have refused to respond. The attitude of the officials has hurt our feelings and we have been forced to go on a strike to demand the implementation of GO 577 and release the pending salary dues of the ‘archakas’ for the last 11 months,” said protesting Priests from Jogulamaba Gadwal district. The priests’ association members said they would not stop their strike until the officials and the State government accepted their demand.