Rejig of Travancore Devaswom Board employees put on hold

Thiruvananthapuram: The Travancore Devaswom Board has temporarily halted the rejig of temple workers following complaints over the ‘unscientific’ approach of the process. 

Devaswom Board president P S Prashanth stated that the rearrangement will be done after further assessments.

Employee organisations had raised concerns that the shuffling was carried out without any proper study or consideration of the workload. Out of the Board's annual budget of Rs 1,375 crore, Rs 890 crore is allocated for employee salaries and pensions, leaving a smaller share for temple-related activities and development.

The High Court had earlier directed the Board to transfer employees from sections with lesser workload to the ones with additional duties. 

It was revealed by the Board's estimates that the sections such as ‘Kazhakam’, ‘Thakil’ and ‘Nadaswaram’ have more employees than required, especially considering that these roles see reduced activity after temple rituals are completed.

Hence in the future, the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board will recruit candidates for positions such as ‘Kazhakam’ cum Watcher, ‘Thakil’ cum Watcher and ‘Nadaswaram’ cum Watcher. 

The Board will also take into consideration the fact that the additional number of employees, including the temple staff, is causing financial burden to it, before completing the rejig process.