Mangaluru Mayor announces resumption of 'Tiger' operation to clear street vendors from footpaths
Mangaluru: Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur has announced the relaunch of the 'Tiger' operation in Mangaluru on July 29, aimed at clearing footpaths of street vendors to improve pedestrian access and cleanliness. The operation will target prominent areas of the city where footpaths are often obstructed by vendors.
Addressing reporters after a phone-in program at the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) office on Wednesday, Mayor Shetty detailed the clearance plans, which will focus on five key business zones within the MCC administration limits. These zones include two locations near Lady Goschen Hospital and one each in Surathkal, Mannagudda, and Kavoor. The operation will specifically target businesses set up in tents or permanent structures along roadsides, requiring them to vacate the space. However, pushcart vendors will be allowed to continue their trade by the roadside.
Mayor Shetty emphasized that the clearance is necessary to address pedestrian accessibility and road cleanliness. He assured that after the clearance, the MCC would provide necessary facilities to the affected businesses within a month, allowing them to continue their operations without inconveniencing citizens.
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The mayor explained that the MCC had previously allowed these businesses to operate on humanitarian grounds. However, efforts to clear roadside stalls, particularly along Airport Road, had met with resistance from vendors who filed police complaints against authorities and attempted to intimidate officers, he noted with disappointment.
Mannagudda Corporator added that local residents had also raised concerns about the business zone in Mannagudda, supporting the need for action.
The press meeting was attended by Deputy Mayor Suneetha, Deputy Commissioner of the MCC Girish Nandan, and the president of the MCC Standing Committee, who all expressed their support for the operation's objectives to restore public access and cleanliness in the city.
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
