Outsourcing workers terminated for celebrating birthday on temple premises
VIJAYAWADA: Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam (SDMSD) executive officer (EO) D Bramarambha terminated services of seven outsourcing sanitation employees with the immediate effect and placed one security guard under suspension and reported against one Special Protection Force (SPF) constable for violating temple rules and celebrating birthday in front of Maha Rajagopuram.
The incident happened on Wednesday midnight when the sanitation employees celebrated the birthday of the supervisor after the temple closed for darshan.
The issue came into light three days after photos and videos of the birthday celebrations were leaked by one of them. In the photos and videos, the employees were seen dancing and taking photos after cutting the cake.
Upon learning about the incident, the EO ordered a departmental probe and issued termination orders to all the employees based on the report.
“No one is allowed to do such things on the temple premises. We took the issue seriously and even wrote to SPF higher officials to make sure such things do not happen in future which hurts the sentiments of devotees,” said the EO.
She further clarified that no employee in the birthday celebrations was under the influence of alcohol.