LUCKNOW: As part of a major overhaul of the counting system of the donation funds of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the State Bank of India (SBI) removed all 36 personnel previously engaged in the process. They have been replaced with regular bank staff.
According to sources, after the resignation of 23 workers who had quit seeking a salary hike, the remaining 13 personnel have also been relieved from duty, bringing an end to the role of the entire existing donation-counting workforce.
Under the refurbished arrangement, cash counting will now be carried out exclusively by newly-deployed SBI employees drawn from different branches of the bank.
The sources claimed that those removed from the counting process were engaged through a private agency based in Varanasi. However, they were called to surrender their identity cards and were instructed not to report for duty from the following day.
SBI has now opted to deploy regular bank employees in an effort to ensure transparency, accountability and oversight in the donation counting process.
Sources further said that the relieved workers would not be assigned any other duties on the temple premises, effectively ending their association with the donation management system.
Meanwhile, the dismissed workers have alleged that the private agency received nearly Rs 26,000 per employee while they were paid only around Rs 15,000 per month.
They claimed they had been removed without any personal wrongdoing and were not informed of any specific reason for their termination.
Neither the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust nor SBI issued an official statement over the issue.
The restructuring extends beyond the donation counting system.
According to sources, several long-serving contractors associated with cleaning, maintenance and other support services on the Ram Temple premises have also been removed.
Sources said the objective was to restructure the operational network, introducing a new set of personnel across both sensitive and routine functions, in an effort to improve transparency and strengthen institutional safeguards within the temple’s management system.