New TTD Board Resolves to Retire, Transfer Non-Hindu Staff

Anantapur: The newly appointed board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), at its first meeting presided over by chairman B.R. Naidu at the Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala on Monday, unanimously resolved to transfer or retire its employees who belong to religions other than Hindu religion.

Informing media about the decisions taken by the board, the TTD chairman made it clear that non-Hindu employees will not be permitted to continue working for TTD. They will be given the option of retiring voluntarily or will be transferred to other departments.

“The resolution we have passed will be sent to the state government for further action,” Naidu stated.

With regard to other decisions, the chairman pointed out that several VIPs, mostly political leaders of various parties, speak about political issues to media after having darshan of Lord Venkateswara Swamy at Tirumala. He said the board has decided not to allow politics-related press conferences. “We will book cases against those who speak politics at the holy pilgrim centre”, he declared.

Naidu said an expert committee will be formed to examine the use of artificial intelligence to ensure sarva darshan of Lord Venkateswara for devotees within 2–3 hours, instead of them waiting in long queues for hours together.

The first meeting of the newly appointed board took several other key decisions, including cancelling controversial resolutions passed by the previous boards under the previous YSRC government.

Accordingly, it will cancel allotment of darshan tickets through the Tourism department. Presently, about 4,000 darshan tickets are allotted to devotees arriving through Tourism departments of various states using different modes of transportation like air and buses. “We have noticed misuse of these tickets. Tirumala is not a tourist place, but purely a spiritual centre. Hence, no tickets will be allotted for tourism”, the chairman underlined.

The board passed a resolution asking the state government to cancel allotment of 20 acres of land near Alipiri to build Mumtaz Hotel, as it is hurting the sentiments of devotees.

Following the controversy over Srivani Trust funds being deposited in a separate account, the TTD board announced that the amount will be credited into the main trust account of TTD, while continuing Srivani services.

The board has decided to cancel the lease of land given to Sri Sarada Peetham near Gogarbham Dam for violation of norms.

The board decided to rename Srinivasa Sethu as Garuda Varadhi. The previous government has changed the name of Garuda Varadhi to Srinivasa Sethu. The original name is thus being restored.

The TTD board has proposed to withdraw deposits from private banks and deposit the same in public sector banks. This issue will be discussed in detail at the next board meeting.

As per another decision, additional prasadam will be added to the menu of Anna Prasada Bhavanam.

executive officer Syamala Rao was present at the meeting. The chairman and EO released TTD calendars on the occasion.