India’s richest Hindu temple of Lord Venkateshwara in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district decided to let go off 1,300 contractual workers citing the suspension of work and inability to renew contracts during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.
The nationwide lockdown enforced to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic has resulted in several companies sacking their employees to reduce the overhead expenses.
The 1300 workers were employed in the sanitation and hospitality departments in the three guesthouses run by the temple trust – Vishnu Nivasam, Srinivasam and Madhavam – for several years.
The temple administration said that the contract of 1300 employees stopped due to the lockdown did not renew after April 30
The lockdown has also had an impact on the country’s richest temple. 1300 contract workers working in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati Balaji temple have been thrown out. The contract of these employees ended on 30 April and the temple administration refused to renew the contract from 1 May.
Actually, the Tirupati Balaji temple management has refused 1300 employees working on the contract since May 1. The temple administration said that work is closed due to the lockdown, so now the contracts of these 1300 employees will not be extended beyond April 30.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust runs three guesthouses, namely Vishnu Nivasam, Srinivasam and Madhavam. All the 1300 fired employees worked in these guest houses for many years.
Tirupati Balaji temple president YV Subba Reddy said that all the guesthouses were closed due to the lockdown, due to which the contract of these employees was not extended. He said that regular employees have not been assigned any work during this period.
