Temple Poojaris Welfare Association has urged the district administration to issue proper annual income certificates to priests in rural and semi-urban areas so that they could get monthly pension.
In a memorandum submitted to the Collector S. Ganesh here on Monday, they said that a pension of Rs.1,000 should be sanctioned to poojaris who had rendered two decades of service and are 60 years old. “Because no priest can earn much after retiring from service,” said P. Vasu, state president of the association.
He said that the annual income of even in-service poojaris was less than Rs.15,000. But revenue authorities refused to issue certificates stating that their income was below Rs. 24,000 a year resulting in outright rejection of their application for pension, said S. Balasubramaniam, district president of the forum. They wanted the state government and the district administration to ascertain their economic condition and issue income certificates to be less than Rs. 24,000.
They also wanted free milch animals so that they could eke out a livelihood. Many cows were without care and maintenance at Sri Iyyanar Temple in Peyadikottai. These animals could be distributed to poojaris. In this context, they referred to a similar stand taken by the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple which had given its cows to self-help group members about a month ago.
