Endowments minister C. Ramachandraiah is out to clip the wings of the world's richest temple body, the Rs2,000-crore Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam which manages Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple and several other institutions.
The minister plans to bring the TTD under the purview of Comptroller and Auditor General of India, amend the existing AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act which provides unbridled powers to TTD in leasing lands etc, check unnecessary expenditure by the top brass of the temple board and other related issues.
Mr Ramachandraiah shot off a missive to the finance department asking if TTD accounts could be audited by the CAG on the lines of other government organisations in the state in order to ensure a check on expenditure and proper utilisation of Sri Venkateshwara Swami temple’s Rs2,000 crore revenue, as well as that of the several institutions and properties in the state and other parts of the country. The minister has decided to take on the bigwigs of the TTD after a recent unsavoury incident.
Mr Ramachandraiah was snubbed by TTD authorities who disregarded his recommendation letter for darshan and accommodation to friends and relatives of a senior Congress functionary from New Delhi recently.
At present, the TTD, which is an independent body, has its accounts audited by a local audit company. The 15-member TTD board, apart from the EO, is appointed by the government.
“I have written a letter to the Finance Ministry to seek an opinion on the possibility of TTD accounts being be audited by CAG to ensure proper audit of revenue and expenditure, utilisation of funds for the avowed objectives,” Mr Ramachandraiah told this newspaper. Unlike other government departments, temples under endowments department and TTD solely dependent on the donations of devotees and do not received funds from the government.
“TTD is run like a personal fiefdom. No one knows how the hard-earned money of devotees are utilised. I found some glaring aberrations in the functioning of the TTD. A group of people are literally holding TTD to ransom and running it like a private organisation,” Mr Ramachandraiah fumed.
He questioned the credibility of TTD chairman K. Bapiraju, Dollar Seshadri and others who, he said, appease politicians, burea-ucrats, judicial officers, industrialists and others with priority darshan and provide other luxuries in an attempt to keep their power intact while ignoring the poor pilgrims.
“Such unbridled powers are dangerous. The state can lease out its lands for only 11 years so how come the TTD can do the same for 99 years,” he asked.