TS TO SET UP FUND TO PAY ARCHAKAS

The Telangana State government will set up a special fund with `100 crore to pay salaries to archakas (priests) in the state. The priests will get `10,000 per month in urban areas and `8,000 in the rural areas. Temporary priests working under NMR will be paid `10,000 and regular priests working under NMR will be paid `12,000 per month.

The Cabinet sub-committee constituted by the state government under chairmanship of endowment minister A. Indrakaran Reddy met on Tuesday and finalised the recommendations.

Speaking to reporters, the endowment minister said that the committee will submit its report to the government very soon and added that priests will get their salaries on the first day of every month similar to government employees.

He said that the committee has decided to implement the hereditary of archakas system. “If any eligible members are found in the archakas families, they will be appointed in the temples,” the minister told reporters on Tuesday.

At present, there are about 6,000 archakas in the state and among them 2,500 are permanent archakas.

The committee under the chairmanship of the minister has also decided to set up committees headed by district collectors to protect temple lands.

“All the pattadars pass books of the temple lands should be changed in the name of concerned temples. Without the permission of the endowment commissioner, no recruitment should be done in any temple,” the minister said.

The committee has also decided to recommend filling all the vacancies of engineers and others and also Sthapathi posts. Online booking facility should be established for accommodation and various kinds of sevas in the temples, whose income is more than `1 crore.

The minister said that the committee has also decided to develop temple tourism to attract more people.