Bhadradri temple priests, staff stage protest over police action

Speaking to the media, the temple sthanacharyulu, Sthala Sai raised objection over the local police' action of entering into the temple kitchen (potu) without removing their shoes.

Kothagudem: Priests and staff at Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Temple at Bhadrachalam in the district, have staged a flash protest on the temple premises on Monday.

Speaking to the media, the temple sthanacharyulu, Sthala Sai raised objection over the local police’ action of entering into the temple kitchen (potu) without removing their shoes. “Potu, where laddu prasadam is prepared, is a sacred place; the police’s action hurt our religious sentiments,” he said.

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It is learnt that some of the laddu prasadam sold at the temple counter on Sunday was found to be stale. Based on the media reports, a local judge directed the police to probe into the issue and the police, wearing shoes, inspected the kitchen on Monday.

Sthala Sai said that the police should have told the temple EO to stop the sale of laddus. But in the name of inspection, they damaged the sanctity of the place and created panic, he complained while demanding the concerned officials to respond to the incident properly.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the staff have sold the leftover laddus prepared for Mukkoti celebrations and that was why they were infested with fungus. Instead of staging protests, the temple staff and priests should have taken care in ensuring quality of laddu prasadam, which the devotees consider sacred, said a devotee B Srinivas of Kothagudem.