Tirumala temple board to write to Andhra govt seeking removal of non-Hindu staff

Hyderabad: In its maiden meeting on Monday, the new Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Board resolved to write a letter to the Andhra Pradesh government, requesting to take an appropriate decision on the non-Hindus working in Tirumala.

Following his appointment as the chairman of the TTD board, BR Naidu declared that Tirumala and TTD, being a Hindu charitable organisation, would not allow non-Hindus as staff. He said that the non-Hindu TTD staff will either be offered VRS or surrendered to the government. Therefore, the first board meeting itself included the non-Hindu staff issue as an agenda item.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting in Tirupati on Monday, BR Naidu also said that the board had resolved to take advice from experts to reduce the darshan time of Lord Venkateswara Swamy from 20–30 hours to 2-3 hours using artificial intelligence and advanced technology.

The board also decided to merge the SRIVANI Trust into the TTD Account and explore the possibility of changing its name while maintaining the scheme.

The board has given a nod to dispense with the Tourism Corporation's Darshan quota of various states after a thorough examination of the complaints regarding irregularities in the issue of tickets under this category. Srinivasa Setu Flyover will be renamed as Garuda Varadhi. The TTD Board also decided to request the state government to hand over the 20-acre land given to the tourism department at Alipiri to TTD near the Devlok Project. TTD decided to provide darshan to Tirupati locals on the first Tuesday of every month.

No political statements

Naidu also said that no political statements will be allowed in Tirumala, and action will be taken legally if needed against such persons as well as those who propagate them.

In order to ensure the safety of TTD deposits, the next board meeting will decide to transfer them from private banks to nationalized banks.

The new TTD chairman added that as the Visakha Sarada Peetham has violated the rules of TTD, following the Experts Committee's report, the lease of the Mutt will be cancelled. The TVS company will undertake the repairs of leaks in the ancient Potu-temple kitchen at the Srivari temple, as well as the modernization of the Vengamamba Annaprasadam Complex.