Kejriwal Announces Rs 18,000 Monthly Honorarium for Priests, Granthis

Ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, Former Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal announced the ‘Pujari, Granthi Samman Yojana,’ under which priests of temples and granthis of Gurudwaras will receive a monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000. He further stated that this scheme would be implemented once the AAP from the government winning in the upcoming polls in the national capital.
“Today I am making an important announcement regarding a scheme. The name of the scheme is Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana. Under this, there is a provision to give an honorarium to the priests of temples and the ‘granthis’ of the Gurudwara. They will be given an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month. This is happening for the first time in the country. The priest is a class that has carried forward the rituals from generation to generation. They never paid attention to their family and we never paid attention to them,” said Kejriwal.
“We know how pujaris serve us. Be it the birthday of our kid or the death of a loved one, they have always connected us with God. But they never gave attention to their own families, and neither did we pay enough attention to them. This is happening for the first time in the country. We have done many works in the national capital which happened for the very first time. We improved schools and hospitals and made bus travel for women. I just hope that the BJP and the Congress governments will learn from this and will implement such schemes in the state run by them,” he added further.
Slamming the BJP, he said that they tried their best to halt Mahila Samman Yojana by making false cases and sending police. The registration for the same scheme is still underway. They tried to halt Sanjeevani Yojana but could not. I want them to not do the same with this scheme.
Earlier on Monday, Imams of Delhi Waqf Board protested outside the residence Arvind Kejriwal over the delay in the release of their salaries.  All India Imam Association Chairman Sajid Rashidi expressed dismay over the delay in the release of salaries of the imams of the Delhi Waqf Board by the Delhi government.
Rashidi stated that they haven’t received their salaries from last 17 months, adding that they are continuously meeting several officials and leaders of the government, but no action has been taken yet into the matter. Rashidi gave an ultimatum to the Delhi government saying that if their salaries wouldn’t get sanctioned, the imams will sit on protest here and not get up till they get their salaries.