SRIKAKULAM: The famous temple of Sri Suryanarayana Swamy at Arasavalli in Srikakulam district is facing severe staff crunch ahead of the Ratha Saptami festival on January 26. The temple, which has been attracting a steadily increasing number of devotees with each passing day is now finding it hard to gear up for the upcoming festival what with the number of staff dwindling from 18 to a mere 11.
Considered one of the most holy places with daily pujas and worship, the temple income has also grown with the increasing number of devotees. In contrast, the succeeding governments have only shown apathy and negligence towards the temple.
With the temple having registered an income of Rs.4 crore in 2014, indicating the rising number of devotees, the government said that the temple would be developed as a part of tourism promotion. But no development has taken place till now. What is worse is the situation compounded due to lack of staff. As per the Endowments department, the temple needs 18 employees but there are only 11 staff members as of now - one superintendent, five sweepers, one record assistant, one junior assistant, one electrician and two attendants, who are doing all the work. The only computer operator at the temple is also outsourced.
Three record assistants and one attendant were suspended on September 9 in human hair theft case, while earlier, one attendant was suspended for stealing hundi money during counting. Right now, only two home guards and eight private security staff are present for security duty.
The temple is visited by 700 to 1,000 devotees every day on an average. On special occasions or festivals the turnout is greater, with no temple staff to manage the situation.
However, works relating to Ratha Saptami on Jan 26 have begun at the temple with lakhs of people from Odisha and North Andhra expected to visit the temple on that day.
Pointing out that there are problems even when the employees are present in full strength, the devotees have voiced their fears that the staff crisis may tell on the management. Several people have demanded filling up of vacant posts before Ratha Saptami.
Admitting to the shortage of staff at the temple, EO R Pushpanadam said that he had written a letter to the Endowments Commission seeking six sweepers. The staff would be appointed as soon as the proposal was approved. The EO said the Ratha Saptami works would be completed by deploying staff from other districts.
