As many as 30 employees of the two most important mosques in the city – the historic Mecca Masjid and Shahi Masjid in Public Gardens – are worried as the nature of their employment will be changed to outsourcing on a yearly basis from March 31.
The move has prompted the superintendent of the Mecca Masjid M A Qadeer Siddiqui to request the State government to regularise their appointments on the basis of heavy footfalls and the need to better maintain these spaces, and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi to write to the Chief Minister describing it an ‘injustice’ to the employees of the two mosques.
The 30 employees include different services such as those of the khateeb, one who delivers sermons, imams, those who lead prayers, muezzins, those who give the call to prayer, the superintendent, and others such as electricians and sweepers. While 23 staff are posted at the Mecca Masjid, another seven are at the Shahi Masjid in Public Gardens.
In his letter, Mr Owaisi stated that the employees working at the two mosques are getting a consolidated pay of between ₹ 12,000 and ₹ 17,000, and that the khatibs and imams, though being qualified, are being paid less than home guards. He noted that while despite several requests of employees to make them eligible for pensions and increments, among other benefits, these were not accepted, and those from other departments were ‘getting benefits’.
“Taking into account the totality of the factors mentioned above, I request your good self to kindly consider the desirability of issuing instructions to the concerned department not to implement the scheme of contract and outsourcing of the employees of the Makkah Masjid and Royal Mosque till their request for regularisation and other demands are implemented,” Mr Owaisi wrote.
