MYSURU: Freshly-plucked flowers adorned the Goddess Chamundeshwari, and the metronomic hum of the incantations rang through at the temple, to the accompaniment of regular gongs of the giant bells at the temple that rests atop Chamundi Hills . The resumption of pujas and rituals on Sunday came in the wake of all employees, including priests, sat on a dharna demanding revision in their salaries. The protest disrupted normal activities at the temple for two days, and devotees, many of whom had come to the hill shrine from far-off places were the worst affected. Consequently, as pujas and other sevas recommenced at the hill shrine on Sunday, the devotees understandably experienced a surge of joy.On Thursday, the temple employees launched an indefinite strike demanding a hike in their wages, and the devotees who arrived at the shrine could only get darshan of the Goddess, but absence of priests meant that there were no archanas, special sevas or the Mangalaarathi. However, the temple’s executive officer met the protesting staff and assured them of setting up a meeting with the Mysuru district in-charge minister GT Devegowda and senior officials in the muzrai department, which is responsible for administering the temple.Moreover, the temple’s management board successfully managed to transfer the salaries of all the employees’ accounts to the Kaveri Grameena Bank atop the hill. “We have to discuss four other grievances with the ministers,” said an official.General secretary of the Sri Chamundeshwari Temple Employees’ Union CS Vishwanath told TOI that the workers were prompted to take an action as extreme as a strike owing to the authorities’ failure to respond to their grievances. “But our protest did not prevent devotees from getting darshan of the Goddess. The officials have agreed to discuss our demands, and we are looking forward to meeting the officials concerned. Also, the tragedy at Kollegal was an event which made us suspend the protest,” said Vishwanath.However, in what can be perceived as a ripple effect to the protest atop Chamundi Hills, employees at the Sri Srikanteshwara temple in Nanjangud have threatened to launch a strike from Monday. The auspicious Hindu month of Dhanurmasa commences on Monday, and the priests warned that they will not perform any pujas to welcome the onset of this period in the Hindu calendar.The disgruntled employees pointed out that they had repeatedly appealed to the government for improvement in their salary, and for benefits, for the past decade, but to no avail. “Staff at the Nanjangud temple are facing issues not very different from those affecting workers at the Chamundeshwari temple. We will wait till December 24, and then think about calling the strike off. Outsourced workers will tend to the needs of devotees. We will ensure that darshan and distribution of food are not disrupted at the temple,” said a priest at the Srikanteshwara temple.

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