TTD says the 1381 kg gold caught in TN polls is safe

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has said that there is nothing to worry about the 1381 kilograms of gold belonging to Lord Venkateswara which was caught by election authorities in Tiruvallur district of Tamilnadu.

TTD executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal asserted that the 1381 kg of Gold including interest, which was deposited in Punjab National Bank (PNB) in 2016, has reached TTD treasury safely on 20 April.

Addressing the media persons in Conference Hall of TTD Administrative Building in Tirupati he tried to allay fears on the safety of TTD gold from the minds of devotees.

The executive officer said, the state government of Andhra Pradesh has issued a government order on 1 April in the year 2000, to deposit surplus gold in nationalized banks under Gold Deposit Scheme.

Later in 2015, the RBI has brought in Gold Monetisation Scheme in the place of Gold Deposit Scheme. The total deposits of TTD Gold include 5387 kilos in State Bank of India (SBI), 1938 kg in Indian Overseas Bank(IOB), 1381 kg in Punjab National Bank (PNB) and 553 kg of mixed gold in TTD treasury.

Following the guidelines of Medium Term and Long Term deposits given by Government of India, TTD deposited gold in the respective banks. The GoI gives 1.5% on handling charges and 1% commission to banks. The handling charges are towards the gold purity testing, refining, transportation, storage and other costs being incurred by banks.

"Hence it is clear that the total responsibility of handing over of Gold to TTD in Treasury at Administration Building, Tirupati lies purely on PNB as per guidelines," Anil Kumar said.

The EO further said, "TTD has deposited 1311 kilos of Gold in PNB on 18 April 2016 for a period of three years. The deposit maturity date was on 18 April 2019 which was fixed three years ago itself. Accordingly, TTD has addressed PNB on 27 March to handover Gold to TTD with interest on 1381 kg on the maturity date.

Accordingly, the PNB has handed over the gold to TTD on 20 April. The gold while being transported, was seized by the election authorities.

"TTD has no responsibility in regard to the gold and TTD never claimed this gold by election authorities. TTD officials including vigilance department bear no responsibility in this regard", EO maintained.