KCR gives nod for Archakas wage hike

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekara Rao has agreed to hike salary of temple staff and Archakas. Endowment Minister A Indrakaran Reddy held discussions with the Archakas and later met the Chief Minister. He informed the media that the CM has agreed to hike the salaries of Archakas, temple staff and to release special funds for maintenance of temples. The Minister announced that employees would get the hiked salary with retrospective effect from June. A committee would be constituted to study feasibility of paying wages to temple staff through treasury. The Minister announced that honorary salary for Archakas would be hiked from Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000 and a GO would be released soon. Besides this, the Archakas are also entitled for Telangana increments. Indrakaran reiterated that government will set up Archaka Welfare Fund and Dharmika Parishat. It may be noted that Archakas were on strike for wage hike at par with government employees, special funds for maintenance of temples and other demands.