PNS | Vijayawada
Financial aid will be provided for the renovation of old temples and construction of new ones, from the Sri Venkateswara Alaya Nirmana (SRIVANI) Trust of TTD as per the guidelines, said TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy.
During the monthly ‘Dial Your EO’ programme held at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala on Sunday, the EO received feedback from 23 callers across the country.
Venkatesh from Chennai and Srikanth from Manchiryala urged the TTD EO to renovate the temples in their respective areas, which were in a dilapidated condition. Answering the callers, the EO said the temple construction would be taken place using the SRIVANI funds as per the guidelines after a team from TTD visits their place for verification.
Elaborating further, the EO said: “TTD set up the SRIVANI Trust in 2018. Linking of one-time VIP break darshan to the donor who donates Rs 10,000 to the Trust has fetched nearly Rs. 880 crore, besides curbing middlemen. Every single penny of the fund is being utilised to renovate and construct temples. The construction of new temples takes place in four ways — through TTD, AP Endowments Department, Village Committees and Samarasata Seva Foundation (SSF). But in recent times, some vested interests are misleading the people that the SRIVANI funds are getting diverted and we are not issuing the donors proper receipts for the payments they made, which is completely far from the truth. Since 2019, about nine lakhs devotees have had darshan under SRIVANI Trust. We have not received a single complaint or mail from any of these devotees. I appeal to the devotees not to fall prey to such baseless and false propaganda against TTD and SRIVANI funds. If you have any doubts, you can obtain the details from TTD anytime.”
Sriram from Visakhapatnam suggested that physically challenged and senior citizens be sent for darshan separately. The EO replied that henceforth after allowing senior citizens, physically challenged pilgrims would be allowed for darshan.
Raju from Vanaparty informed the EO that the Srivarimettu luggage delivery system needed to be streamlined on the lines of the Alipiri footpath route, to which the EO said that TTD had completely modernised the luggage receiving and delivery system in a transparent manner. Very soon, the same will be implemented in the Srivari Mettu route also, he added.
Another devotee, Eswar Prasad from Irala, told the EO about the huge amounts charged by an eatery located in the Srivarimettu footpath. The officer said the TTD would look into the possibility of introducing Annaprasadam in that area.
When Madhu Kulkarni from Karnataka asked the EO to extend the accommodation facility for two days, the EO said there were only 7,000-odd rooms in Tirumala while the pilgrim footfall was almost one lakh and it was not possible to provide rooms beyond 24 hours.
JEOs Sada Bhargavi, Veerabrahmam, SVBC CEO Shanmukh Kumar, CE Nageswara Rao and some other HoDs were present.
