Staff shortage leaves employees overworked in TTD

Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams employees are a stressed lot as they are being burdened with additional work. The work pressure is high for everyone, right from class four employees to the senior most officials in TTD. The reason behind the work pressure is something as simple as a delay in the recruitments. 

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s senior employees welfare association conveyed their problems to the Chief Minister recently and requested that the government conduct a recruitment drive as soon as possible, to reduce the workload on existing officials.

The last recruitments took place in the year 2010. From then onwards, recruitments were completely stopped and the administration is allegedly depending only on contract employees to favour contractors.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has more than 8,000 permanent employees at present. The number has drastically reduced when compared to the statistics of the year 2010. As many as 300 — 500 employees have retired from TTD from the year 2010 and there has been no recruitment dive that was conducted to fill up all those gaps.

Even the Nayi Brahmins who work at the Kalyana Katta for the purpose of tonsuring people’s heads are being paid for each piece of work. According to the officials, permanent employees in these categories have reduced to a meagre 200.

The Rayalaseema region is completely backward and TTD is surely one of the main hubs for jobs for economically backward families. There are many demands from organisations like Rayalaseema Porata Samithi and so on to offer jobs to the locals. Many organisations have also held protested in front of the TTD administrative building asking them to conduct new recruitments.

A senior official from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on condition of anonymity said, “The Chief Minister has responded in a positive manner for the request. Every employee in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is facing severe stress. This includes everyone from attenders to senior level officials of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. There are more than 7,000 rooms in Tirumala and one attender looks after as many as 150 rooms. How can he alone take care of the pilgrims. Senior officials are also being given additional administrative jobs.”

Speaking to this correspondent, district convenor, Rayalaseema Porata Samithi Naveen Kumar Reddy said, “There are nearly as many as 10,000 employees who have been outsourced from other firms and contractors. They is no guarantee that they will not be fired from their jobs. Officials are working in tandem with the contractor and they are not even paid minimum salaries. If officials are not keen on conducting recruitments, then why can’t they regularise the outsourcing staff atleast.”