Room rents of common plgrims untouched, says TTD, after TDP's accusations of 'looting devotees'

An official explained rents were hiked only in rest houses in the VIP cottage areas

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has clarified that the rental rates of guest houses in Tirumala meant for common pilgrims remain untouched, “despite they having been spruced up with an investment of Rs 120 crore.”

The opposition TDP has on Thursday accused the trust board headed by YV Subba Reddy, a former YSRCP Lok Sabha MP, of hiking the TTD's room rents steeply from Rs 150 to Rs 1,700 and from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000.

“Chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy and his gang is looting the pilgrims of the most renowned temple in the world,” accused Putta Sudhakar Yadav, former TTD chairman, and a TDP leader, further charging that “the advance amount collected from pilgrims as a security deposit is not being refunded.”

TTD executive officer Dharma Reddy refuted the allegations, asking the pilgrims “not to be misled by vested interests wanting to malign the organisation's reputation.”

The official said that the rents were hiked only for the 172 rooms of SV, Narayanagiri etc rest houses located in the VIP cottage areas.

“We spent about Rs eight crore to modernise these 172 rooms on par with Sri Padmavati Guest House where protocol VIPs and economically rich devotees prefer to stay. We have increased the rentals of these 172 rooms only to maintain balance,” Reddy said.

The EO said that out of the about 7,500 rooms on the Tirumala hill, nearly 5,000 rooms come at tariffs of Rs 50, and Rs 100 and are within the reach of common pilgrims.

“We had spent Rs 120 crore to renovate all these rooms, installing new geysers, furniture, flooring, doors and windows, giving a new look. Though each room's maintenance comes to be about Rs 200 – Rs 250, we have not increased their rents. Apart from these minimal tariff rooms, there are four Pilgrim Amenity Complexes (PACs) which accommodate nearly 15,000 pilgrims free of cost,” Reddy said.

The TTD provides common devotees with free darshan, accommodation, tonsuring, prasadams, medical services, Annaprasadam, Jala Prasadam, and transportation on the hill.

Reddy said the previous TTD board meeting decided to construct one more PAC with Rs 100 crore to accommodate another 2,000 pilgrims providing all free amenities.