YSR urges Naidu to concede archakas' demands

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 13. The Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, in a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Tuesday asked the latter to concede the demands of archakas of temples as the issue was brought to his notice by his party MLAs Mr. D. Sridhar Babu and Mr. K. Venkata Reddy.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy said the MLAs mentioning their problems to him said that the archakas were performing pujas for the prosperity of people and welfare of society and were protecting the Hindu religion and vedic hymns. He said the MLAs represented to him that the Government was unduly interfering in their affairs by fixing the retirement age of archakas and fixing their pay scales.

He was told by them that the archakas were not paid regular salaries and no funds were being released for day-to-day rituals. The MLAs told him that it was ridiculous to announce retirement age of archakas who in fact had no salaries at all in some temples. The demand of uniform pay scales without linking to the income of temples, retention of retirement age of 65 years and amendment to Section 37/87 of the Endowments Act, should be conceded, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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