Puri temple servitors get Rs 5,000 aid following lockdown crisis
BHUBANESWAR: Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in Puri on Friday announced a Rs 1.6 crore package to assist the servitors, who have been facing financial hardship due to closure of the shrine since March 20 following the Covid-19 outbreak. At least 2130 servitors’ families would receive financial support of Rs 5,000 each under the package.
“We will provide financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to each servitor’s family. Total 2130 families will be benefited under the scheme. The money will be transferred to their bank accounts. Total Rs 10,650,000 will be spent on this head,” SJTA’s administrator (ritual) Jitendra Sahoo said.
TOI on Friday carried a story highlighting experience of the servitors during the lockdown and their financial crunch due to closure of the shrine to devotees since March 20. Only servitors are allowed to enter the 12th century shrine to perform daily rituals.
Though the servitors welcomed the package, they demanded more financial assistance. “Our livelihood was solely dependent on Jagannath temple. It is almost a month since the temple was closed. Since the lockdown period has been extended till May 3, we have to sit idle at home for more days. Assistance of only Rs 5,000 is not enough,” said Ananta Tiadi, a servitor.
Servitors said their genuine income has been squeezed in several ways since 2014 when the temple administration banned access of pilgrims onto chariots during annual Rath Yatra. “Several servitors used to earn their livelihoods by escorting devotees to the chariots and performing puja for them before the deities. The practice has been discontinued since 2014, stripping the income of servitors. In 2018, the administration imposed ban on collection of dakshina and donation by servitors from devotees in the temple. Many families of servitors find it difficult to make their ends meet,” said Jogendra Dasmohapatra, another servitor said. Other priests said the remuneration they receive from the temple for performing rituals is inadequate.
A socio-economic study on Jagannath temple priests, conducted by the state-run Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS) in 2013, revealed that 222 per 1000 persons were found to be suffering from various diseases, ruining the economy of their families. The study also disclosed that nearly 1042 (71%) families expected medical support from the temple authority whereas only 7.87% of the total families were having health insurances. Though 105 priests’ families were included under the below poverty line (BPL) category, several other families too reel under financial crunch. The penury of several priests had often cost dear to pilgrims, who used to be harassed and beaten up for not paying exorbitant dakshina to the priests.
-
Download
-
Subscribe
Start Your Daily Mornings with Times of India Newspaper! Order Now