Telangana government will soon fix the cadre strength of Archakas and temple employees, said Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy here on Monday.
An exercise on determining the cadre strength is on and orders will be issued soon, he said. Once the cadre strength of archakas and employees is fixed temple-wise, the government will pay salaries on par with government employees, he added.
Mr. Reddy held a meeting to review various issues related to the Endowments Department. He directed the officials to take measures to extend ‘Dhupa Deepa Naivedyam’ to some more temples from August 1 after examining the applications pending with the government thoroughly. The scheme should be extended only to the temples that fulfil the norms under the Endowments Act, he said.
Officials informed the Minister that so far the department received 5,289 applications. The scheme was delayed following complaints from people and it was found in the preliminary inquiry that some ineligible people were recommended under the Dhupa Deepa Naivedyam scheme. Thus a comprehensive inquiry was ordered to bring in transparency, they added.
Departmental action
The Minister instructed the Endowment Department officials to inspect every temple at the field-level and submit the list of eligible archakas by July-end. Departmental action would be taken against the officer concerned if ineligible archakas are included in the list. Those archakas who are found eligible would be covered under the scheme from August 1. The scheme would also be extended to archakas of tribal temples and those belonging to ‘Viswakarma’ community and serving as archakas.
Master plans
On the development of prominent temples, Mr.Indrakaran Reddy said master plans should be prepared for the prominent pilgrim centres of Bhadrachalam, Basara, Dharmapuri and it should be prepared taking into account the land available under each temple and the facilities to be provided. After the master plans are prepared by the consultant architects are evaluated and approved, work should commence in two to three months, he said.
Reviewing the progress of the works taken up under the Common Good Fund, the Minister said they should be speeded up. He also directed the Endowment Department officials to follow up the delay in sanction of pattadar passbooks to the lands belonging to some temples with the Revenue Department. The pattadar passbooks should be issued in the name of respective temples, he instructed the District Assistant Commissioners.
