Puri: Advocate Mrunalini Padhee, who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking administrative reforms at Srimandir, has urged the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to take steps for the welfare of poor servitors.
Padhee has written to the SJTA chief administrator recently and pleaded for double Palia Purashkar (special remuneration) to the servitors.
In her letter, Padhee claimed that the SJTA had stopped paying double Palia Purashkar to servitors at least four months ago. “The move has affected the livelihood of servitors. The temple administration should immediately reintroduce the special remuneration system,” she pleaded.
Padhee also claimed that the SJTA had conducted a survey in 2013 to study the socio-economic condition of Srimandir servitors. According to her, the survey had found that one third of the servitors were from Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and their annual incomes were below Rs 1.5 lakh.
Padhee urged the SJTA to provide all help to the servitors coming from BPL category. “The temple administration should take immediate steps to include the poor servitors under the various welfare schemes of the state government,” she said in her letter.
Notably, the SJTA had introduced double Palia Purashkar for servitors soon after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) initiated renovation work at Srimandir Jagamohan. The extra remuneration system was suspended in August this year.