Order issued to fix salary of Jain priests in Karnataka: B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan

Bengaluru: Karnataka's Minority Welfare Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan said on Monday he had issued an order to fix salaries for chief priests and their assistants at Jain temples in the state.

Chief priests of 1,043 Jain temples in the state will receive a salary of ₹6,000 each. Assistant priests will get ₹5,000 each, Zameer said in a statement.

Fixation of salaries for Jain priests, the first such initiative, was announced in the state budget, the minister said.

“So far, 1,043 proposals have been received from various districts for salaries. Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan has approved all these proposals and instructed that the order be issued,” his office said.

Zameer also issued an order to release ₹1 crore for the development of the Mahabodhi Society in Gandhi Nagar, Bengaluru.

Earlier this year, Zameer told the Karnataka Assembly that his department had proposed to establish a development corporation for the Jain community. There are 20 lakh Jains in the state, according to the minister.