Why the Immigration dept have not received authorization letter yet? Who is reponsible for this?

THE Government will not extend permits for priests and temple musicians from India to continue working in the temples in Malaysia, says Penang Hindu Endowment Board chief A. Thanashekaran.

He said that new applications had been rejected by the Immigration department, Makkal Osai reported.

Previously, the visas for the temple priests and temple musicians were extended for another one year at RM50 when their current visa period expired.

Their visas are only being extended on a month-to-month basis at the same cost.

He said that this decision had forced temple committees to incur extra expenditure and created problems when conducting daily prayers without a trained priest from India.

He was speaking to reporters after meeting the temple committee of Sri Ramar temple, one of the temples being managed by the Hindu Endowment Board, at the temple premises yesterday.

Thanashekaran, who is also the Bagan Dalam state assemblyman, said that though the Cabinet had approved the entry of the foreign priests from India, the Immigration department had yet to get the official green light.