Transparency of offerings: Panel proposes fixed salary for priests
The Pashupatinath Temple has of late found respite from the issue of transparency of monetary offerings—always a matter of concern and something that has always stirred up a controversy.
A committee formed to look into problems in the temple has told the Ministry of Culture (MoC) that transparency in the offerings is possible if the priests of the main temple are paid a fixed amount of salary in a monthly basis, a practice that has never been followed.
The committee—Shree Pashupati Adhyayan Byawasthapan Swatantra Adhikar Sampanna Samiti—was formed under the MoC as per a Supreme Court ruling last year.
In its preliminary report submitted to the ministry on July 21, the committee has proposed following a series of negotiations with the main priests, spokesperson of the panel Ram Prasad Dahal said.
According to him, four different sections of priests (Bhatta, Bhandari, Rairakami and Bishet) had come to an agreement on the fixed salary system. However, the amount of salary has not been discussed so far, he said.
As per the proposal, if the authorities were to cut their access to monetary offerings, thereby managing to make the offerings transparent, altogether 188 priests (four Bhattas, 101 Bhandaris, 76 Rairakamis and seven Bishets) should be paid on a monthly basis.
The team of 188 priests that has been working from time immemorial in the temple follows a tradition of fetching four Bhattas from South India once in every four years.
Besides, 101 Bhandaris function in a rotational basis. A Bhandari gets to sit inside the temple for a period of one month and has to wait for another 100 months to get his turn after all Bhandaris complete the cycle. Similarly, Rairakamis and Bishets have the responsibility of managing logistics and materials needed for carrying out puja in the temple.
MoC Secretary Mod Raj Dotel, meanwhile, said the ministry is preparing to immediately form an administrative wing to study the report in bold detail.
According to him, any decision on the implementation of the proposals would be taken only after the study would be over within, “most probably”, one month. “The most important issue of public concern is the transparency of monetary offerings,” he said.
The committee that began work on Jan 24 this year had a six-month deadline to submit its report. “However, due to lack of sufficient time, we couldn’t submit the full report,” said Dahal.
“The report we submitted is just a preliminary one. Had we got enough time, we would have been able to make final negotiations with the priests about the salary as well. We can still do that if the ministry extends our term by six more months, at the most, as we have proposed.”
Among other things that the report raises concerns about are minute inventory formation and renovation of the main and other surrounding temples inside the Pashupatinath premises, crematorium management and formation of a separate autonomous body to look into all the issues related to Pashupatinath Temple.
Posted on: 2011-07-27 08:56
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