To show solidarity with the on going mass general strike launched by the Telangana employees for achieving Telangana state, the temple archakas in the Telangana region today stopped all Arjitha sevas resulting in a huge revenue loss to the Endowments department.

Almost all temples in Telangana are open only for normal darshan of the Gods and Goddesses and the archakas and other temple staff are not giving tickets for any Arjitha sevas like Abhishekam and other pujas as part of the all people’s strike.
The archakas have resorted to this action following a call given by the Joint Action Committee of priests and employees of the Telangana region. “This is in accordance with the aspirations of the four crore people of Telangana who are seeking separate statehood for the region,” Upendra Sarma, one of the JAC leaders told newsmen in Hyderabad.

Because of the protest of the archakas and administrative staff, Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy Temple at Yadagirigutta in Nalgonda district would suffer a revenue loss of Rs.4-5 lakh a day, according to officials.

The other famous temples in the region, including those at Bhadrachalam, Vemulawada and Basar, were also badly affected by the strike of archakas and other staff. Most of the temples in Mahabubnagar, Warangal and Karimnagar districts also remained closed since September 13 for all Arjitha sevas. The famous Rajarajeswari Swami temple at Vemulawada in Karimnagar district has so far lost revenue of Rs.60 lakh.