Source: Deccan Chronicle
HYDERABAD, INDIA, December 29, 2002: It was recently announced that the State government will be pulling out of low revenue earning or “loss-making” temples. The priests of at least 24,000 temples which earn below US$500 each per annum must now search for ways to generate resources. Following the government’s decision, these temples will not get the minimum allocations even for conducting daily rituals. Official sources said the government’s decision was a fall-out of the Endowments Department’s unwillingness to bear the established expenditures for these temples after the government implemented pay scales for temple priests. The Supreme Court had allowed the State government to take away endowment lands under the control of the priests and instead pay them salaries. “The minimum additional expenditure for the government on account of payment of salaries to priests in this category of temples would be around two million dollars every month, while the existing grants for annual maintenance will be around $5,000,” a senior Endowments Department official said. The State government was of the view that it would be better to lose control over these temples rather than pay the priests’ salaries. In the new system, the Endowments Department will ask the temple priests to meet the expenditure out of the hundi collections and submit accounts annually. On the other hand, the government has been making efforts to take control of the profitable Shirdi Sai Baba temples and the Chilkur Balaji temple.