Amaravati, March 20 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has released Rs 13 crore for payment of honorariums to Christian pastors.
Minister for Law and Minority Welfare N. Md Farooq said on Thursday that Rs 5,000 monthly honorarium each will be paid to 8,427 pastors across the state.
The TDP-led NDA government released the funds for payment of arrears pending since May 2024.
The ruling alliance, which includes BJP and Jana Sena, had promised in the last year’s elections that the schemes for the welfare of minorities including honorarium for pastors would continue.
The minister said the government last month completed disbursement of six months honorarium to imams and muezzins. The government released Rs.45 crore for payment of honorariums to imams and muezzins.
The National Christian Council in December last year thanked Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for confirming the resumption of honorarium payments to pastors.
The Council said that the Christian community has long awaited this development, along with the continuation of the subsidy scheme for pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
It was in 2019 that the then YSR Congress Party government headed by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had launched payment of honorarium to pastors as promised during the elections.
The BJP had then condemned the government move and accused Jagan Mohan Reddy of misusing government-paid village volunteers to identify pastors and pay a monthly stipend to them.
BJP leaders had said that the government can’t align with one faith and make others feel like outsiders.
The YSRCP government had defended the move on the ground that it has been paying honorariums to Archakas or priests of Hindu temples, imams and muezzins.
Meanwhile, YSRCP leader and former deputy chief minister Amzad Basha flayed the coalition government for neglecting minorities and doing away with welfare measures for Haj pilgrims
Speaking to media on Thursday, said the coalition did not renew the embarkment facility at Gannavaram Airport a facility which was provided by the Centre with the hard efforts of former chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Earlier, Haj pilgrims used to go to Hyderabad as there was no embarkment facility in Andhra Pradesh. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s efforts paid off with the Centre agreeing to Gannavaram Airport as an embarkment point, he said.
–IANS
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