MYSURU: Hundreds of priests and other employees of palace muzrai temples began their indefinite strike atop Chamundi Hills on Friday. They have been demanding fulfilment of their various demands, including 30% pay hike as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission and regularisation of services of a section of employees.
The agitators, led by K Srinivasan, president, Association of Group of Chamundi Hills Temples, staged a protest near the main entrance of the Goddess Chamundeshwari Temple facing the mantapa. While the main entrance and the door of the sanctum sanctorum were open, no services were offered much to the disappointment of the devotees who were caught off-guard. As is the tradition, most of the devotees had brought puja items to offer to the presiding deity.
However, a section of the priests who had stayed away from work, sat in protest near the sanctum sanctorum thus restraining devotees from even having a glimpse of the deity with ease. This led to chaos and commotion for sometime.
Though Executive Officer of the temple K S Prasad repeatedly tried to convince the agitators by handing over a letter sent by Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar requesting them to stop protest in the interest of tourists, they refused to budge.
As the temples within the precincts of the palace and Jwalamukhi Sri Tripurasundari at Uttanahalli also come under palace muzrai temples, the priests from there too stayed away from work and joined the protest at the hill shrine.