The newly-constituted Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board led by B R Naidu on Monday decided to abolish the SRIVANI Trust, created during the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government to mobilise funds for restoration of dilapidated temples across the state.
The decision was taken in the wake of allegations of largescale irregularities in the Srivani Trust, which was collecting Rs 10,000 from each pilgrim to provide them special break darshan of Lord Venkateshwara.
The first meeting of the TTD trust board decided to merge the SRIVANI Trust account into the regular TTD account and order a probe into the sale of tickets under Srivani trust account.
“We shall consider renaming of the scheme and continue it in a different format,” Naidu told reporters.
There were allegations that no proper accounts were maintained by Srivani Trust, as it was also selling offline tickets to the devotees without any receipt for Rs 10,000. The earlier TTD board, however, rejected these allegations.
Another important decision taken by the TTD trust board was to dispense with the services of all non-Hindus working in the TTD and surrender them to the state government.
“The TTD will assess the exact number of non-Hindus working in the temple administration in various capacities and surrender them to the government,” he said.
The board decided to write to the state government for taking an appropriate decision about the non-Hindus working in Tirumala.
“The government can either absorb them in various other departments or offer them a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS),” Naidu said.
In the wake of the recent controversy over the adulteration of ghee, the TTD resolved to constitute a committee to monitor the quality of ghee used in the preparation of Tirumala laddus and other prasadams from time to time.
“We have also decided to introduce one more tasty item in the every-day menu at the Anna Prasadam complex, where free food is provided to the devotees after darshan of Lord Venkateshwara,” the TTD chairman said.
The board further decided to ban leaders of various political parties from making political statements on Tirumala hills.
“Stringent action will be taken as per the law against such persons as well on those who propagate them,” he said.