TIRUPATI: In a blatant violation of rules and regulations and leading to contempt of court orders, the government has for the first time in the history of TTD ordered release of Rs 5-crore for purchase of four acres of land for a private temple Sri Nookambika Ammavari Devastanam located at Anakapalli town in Visakhapatnam district. A government order (RT. No. 1010) dated September 27, 2016, was released by J.S.V. Prasad, principal secretary to Chief Minister, which directed the TTD executive officer (EO) to take necessary action.
Following the request of Anakapalli MLA seeking funds to purchase four acres of land in and around the Devasthanams to cater to the needs of increasing pilgrim flow to the temple, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu during his visit to Anakapalli on August 8, 2014, agreed to allot funds for the purpose. The government in its recent order directed the TTD EO to sanction and release Rs 5 crore from the funds of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in favour of the Devastahanams. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh had on October 22, 2009, issued a stay on the TTD Trust board’s resolution, dated March 22, 2008, through which the board agreed to give several benefits to private temple Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy at Thummalagunta in Tirupati.
Then the TTD trust board, under the chairmanship of Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, passed a resolution providing all help from TTD, which was challenged by a Tirupati-based social activist, Mangati Gopal Reddy, in the High Court. By way of an interim relief, implementation of the impugned resolution was stayed. The case is still pending before the court. After the interim order, TTD had distanced stopped spending its funds on other temples for more than five years. Again, it has started spending indiscriminately after the present TTD trust board came into existence. During the last three board meetings, it approved several proposals other than for Kalyana mandapams, where-in crores of rupees will be spent on private temples.
For example, Rs 20.70 lakh was sanctioned for the revival of Sri Venugopalaswamy temple at Judbhavaram village of Karapa village of East Godavari district, Rs 22.50 lakh for repairs to Sri Ramalayam temple at Sringavarapukota in Vizianagaram district, Rs 19.80 lakh for repairs to Sri Nageswara Swami temple at Pulluru village of Khajipet mandal of YSR Kadapa district, Rs 22.50 lakh for building a gopuram etc at Sri Chennakesava Temple in Vanipenta village of Mydukur mandal of Kadapa district, Rs 95 lakh to build a dormitory hall, rooms etc at Sri Subramanyaswamivari temple at Utlavaripalli in Pakala mandal Chittoor district, Rs 25 lakh towards the repair works of Sri Veereswari temple in Kothavalasa of Vizianagaram district, Rs 25 lakh to take up renovation of Sri Sringara Vallabha Swamy temple at Peddapuram in East Godavari and Rs 31.25 lakh for repairs of Sri Vallabha Narayana Swamy temple at Amudalavalasa in Srikakulam district.
“The recent order of the state government, which directed the TTD EO to release Rs 5 crore for purchasing land for a temple that does not come under its purview, is nothing but a contempt of court,” said social activist Mangati Gopal Reddy, who is preparing to challenge the GO in the High Court.
