Sadhu Parishad urges TTD to take over private mutts at Tirumala

Tirupati: The Sadhu Parishad demanded the TTD to take over the mutts to prevent exploitation of pilgrims arriving at Tirumala for darshan of lord Venkateswara.

A delegation of Swamijis of Sadhu Parishad met TTD EO J Syamala Rao on Thursday. They discussed various issues pertaining to the TTD and local Tirupati temples at the meeting.

Later speaking to mediapersons at the Press Club, Sadhu Parishad honourary president Atluru Narayana, Srinivasananda Swamy and Bhairavananda said the private mutts at Tirumala turned into commercial centres robbing pilgrims by charging more as rent for the rooms and also collecting money in the name of a various Poojas and rituals.

These mutts earn a total of Rs 2,000 cr annually through the pilgrims taking advantage of scarcity of accommodation and their beliefs, the Swamijis said.

This Swamij’s also brought the encroachments in the areas around local temples including at the Rajagopuram of Govinda Rajaswamy temple in Tirupati to the notice of TTD EO. The encroachments cause lot of inconvenience to the pilgrims going to the temples for darshan.

Atluri Narayana, president of Sadhu Parishad, said the EO sought two to three weeks time to look into the issues brought to his notice.

Narayana said that they will not hesitate to take up agitation if the problems were not solved in the stipulated time.