Temples & mutts suffer as staff crunch hits Odisha Endowment Department

With only 53 employees working against 189 posts, the Endowment Department under the Odisha government has been badly hit by a severe staff crunch. As a result, the management of various old mutts and temples across the State has been severely affected. While some servitors are not getting their salary in some places, many temples are getting deprived of revenue collection. 

Take the case of the Jagannath temple at Nilagiri in Balasore district. Though the Holy Trinity is being worshipped at the temple, it is currently going through a severe management crisis. The servitors of the temple have alleged that the temple is not getting its revenue properly and hence they are not getting their payments on a regular basis. The trust board of the temple has not been formed for a long time and it has no executive officer. The servitors have further questioned how a single Endowment Inspector will be able to take the responsibility for Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak districts?

“Due to the severe staff crunch in the endowment Department, several mutts and temples in the State are facing management issues. Revenue is not getting collected and as a result, the staffs are not getting regular payment,” said Saroj Nanda, a servitor of Nilagiri Jagannath Temple.

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Similarly, the Jagannath temple in Baripada, which is popularly known as the second Srikshetra in Odisha, is also grappling with the same kind of management issues.

According to Odisha Temples Servitors Committee President Kameswar Tripathy, severe staff crunch in the Endowment Department is the main reason behind the issue.

“There are a total of 17, 641 temples, 359 mutts and 42 Endowment offices across the State. However, there is severe staff crunch in the Endowment offices. Very few staffs are working under the Endowment Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner. So many cases pertaining to several temples and mutts are yet to be addressed,” said Tripathy.

As per reports, even there are few staffs currently working in the headquarters of the Endowment Commissioner in Bhubaneswar. Though the Commissioner has three branches in Berhampur, Cuttack and Sambalpur, situations are more or less the same there. As many as 136 posts in those offices are lying vacant against the approved posts of 189. Currently, only 53 employees are working in those offices.

Following a directive by a committee appointed by the State government, the department had written a letter to fill up 37 posts last February. However, no steps have been taken in this regard so far.

In response, the BJP government lambasted the previous government of the State for the current situation in the department. Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan has assured that the issue will be resolved soon.

“Recruitment has not been done in the Endowment Department for a long time. It has been decided in a joint meeting of the Law and Endowment Departments that the vacant posts will be filled soon. Necessary steps will be taken in this direction to solve the issue soon,” said Harichandan.