The Uttar Pradesh government has in the run-up to parliamentary elections decided to fulfil the demands of the priests and other workers of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi for salary and other benefits on a par with the state employees.

Nagendra Pandey, president of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Nyas Parishad, told reporters in Varanasi on Sunday that a 16-member committee formed by the government to recommend welfare measures for the members of the Hindu shrine have stated in a report that their salary should be on a par with a teacher of a high school (intermediate) in the state (Rs 47,600-1,51,100 per month).

“The other employees, including part-time priests and caretakers, should also be regularised and given a higher salary than what the temple trust gives them as honorarium currently,” he said.

A source in the state government said that a priest currently gets around Rs 60,000 per month as honorarium. The other employees get anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 47,000 per month. There are about 150 employees and the major source of income of the temple is offerings that come from the devotees.

The temple trust is controlled by the state government through its district-level officers.

Pandey said fresh interviews would be conducted to regularise the part-time workers. Besides the senior trust members, some externals, including the scholars of Sanskrit and Vedas, would be in the interview panel. The committee has also decided to give medical and other job-related benefits to the temple staff.

Brajbhushan Ojha, a member of the trust, said: “We have prepared the new service rule as per the recommendation and sent it to the government for final approval.”

The management of the temple was taken over by the state government on October 13, 1983 under the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act.

Observers believe that the revered temple is also a political symbol that the Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath governments want to cash in on ahead of the general elections.

The Prime Minister had inaugurated the renovated and expanded temple in December 2021 before the 2022 Assembly elections amid allegations that the state and the Centre had ordered the authorities to break many small temples around the Kashi Vishwanath shrine to expand and beautify the area.

The Yogi Adityanath government had then admitted that they had acquired 288 properties between the Ganga and the shrine, including 24 buildings that had idols of gods and goddesses and where devotees used to offer prayers regularly.