One of India’s richest shrines, Tirupati Balaji Temple, in Andhra Pradesh, ended the contract of 1,300 workers amid the Coronavirus crisis. All the staffers asked to leave were engaged in sanitation and hospitality activities.
The officials apprised the firm supplying manpower that the contract expired on April 30, which would not be renewed further.
The chairman of the temple’s trust, YV Subba Reddy, said “the issue was brought to my notice. We will explore the ways to help them.” Further, he revealed that the employees of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) have also not been allotted work ever since the lockdown was announced.
The TTD’s budget for the current financial year is supposedly ₹3,309 crore. But, the proposals, decided in February, could undergo assessment and a re-do due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak.
The workers have requested the TTD administration to let them work during the pandemic. However, the board is reluctant to renew the contract with the existing manpower supplier.
The lay off was also slammed by trade unions. According to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Chittoor district (East) committee, the staffers, taking care of sanitation and maintenance, had put their own lives in jeopardy to serve the pilgrims, as a silver lining in such hard times of crisis.
The well-known hill shrine has been shut since March 20 as a part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. Priests performed rituals in the temple every day, while the devotees weren’t allowed inside. The board had first declared the temple’s closure till May 3. It may now decide in the upcoming days as the Central Government extended the lockdown measures till May 17.