Tirupati temple governing body rocked by controversies

One scandal after the other has rocked the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) over the last six years. Various committees probing the alleged irregularities in administration of the world's richest temple also submitted adverse reports and recommended necessary corrective measures.

From the demolition of historic "veyi kaalla mandapam" (thousand-pillar auditorium), the case of missing gold dollars and alleged "disappearance" of gold ornaments presented to the Lord by Emperor Srikrishna Devaraaya over 500 years ago, the controversies are too many, says a bureaucrat who held a responsible position previously in the TTD.

Add to this the recent case of alleged sale of 'arjita seva' (special worship) tickets in black market, the row over special treatment given to celebrities and the controversy on allocation of land on the Tirumala Hills to corporate houses for construction of private guest houses.

"In the ages of its existence, the Balaji temple -- as it is popularly known -- had never seen so many controversies that it had come to be attached with in the last six years," the bureaucrat lamented. All this, however, elicited the same response from the Andhra Pradesh government and TTD: "There is nothing amiss."

Political parties barring the Congress, religious groups and groups of devotees have been vociferously raising the issues. The opposition accused the Congress government of not taking any concrete step to improve the situation. Several officials, including Officer-on-Special Duty A V Dharma Reddy, are being accused by parties and various groups of being responsible for many of the ills in TTD.

In cases like illegal sale of arjita seva tickets and purchase of plasma television sets at "exorbitant" rates, Dharma Reddy is the man at whom the finger of accusation is being pointed at. TDP leader Payyavula Keshav also takes objection to appointment of IPS officer M K Singh as the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer, claiming that "he was strongly censured by the state High Court on the charges of sexual abuse".

The Rosaiah government has now appointed a three-member authority headed by Special Chief Secretary J Satyanarayana to oversee TTD's work. Though all opposition parties in the state are firm on a demand for a CBI inquiry into the TTD affairs, Endowments Minister Gade Venkata Reddy has rejected it. The government is yet to act on a report submitted by the Vigilance Department on various issues related to TTD. On the orders of the High Court, it has handed over the case of seva tickets to the state CID. "Any further action will be taken based on the inquiry reports," Venkata Reddy said.