Stern action will be initiated on staff who demand money for darshan: EO

Tirumala: Many devotees complained against the staff who they alleged sought money at temple in Tirupati, guest house and also in the queue complex in Tirumala, in the monthly 'Dial Your EO' programme held in Tirumala on Thursday. Srikanth from Manchiryala said that a temple priest demanded money at Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple for darshan and the devotees who did not give money were pushed away. He also complained that the security personnel at Tiruchanur temple were discourteous towards the devotees.

Another devotee Sreenivasa Rao of Hyderabad alleged that staff at Sapthagiri Satralu demanded him money at the time of vacating the room while Suresh Kumar from Kalvakurthy complained that the staff in the queue complex allowed some pilgrims to enter into a compartment, ahead for early darshan. Assuring action on erring staff, EO A V Dharma Reddy said stern action will be taken if anyone demand money in the temple for darshan.

In this connection, he said the TTD management has been striving for providing best possible services to pilgrims and added that training classes are being conducted regularly for the employees for improving their performance particularly with regard to pilgrims. Stating that TTD is not sparing anyone for laxity, he said TTD initiated disciplinary action on as many as 182 employees. Regarding complaint against the staff in the queue complex, he said action will be taken after verification of CC camera footage.

Bhavanarayana from Guntur informed pilgrims facing difficulties for tonsure and wanted to set up more centres. EO said 10 mini-kalyanakatta (tonsure centres) functioning in Tirumala in addition to the main Kalynakatta and added that plans are afoot to set up more tonsure centres to cope with the rush. Veera Redd Reddy of Hyderabad told that devotees facing much difficulties to get accommodation as they are forced to wait for long to get accommodation and Jahansi complained that though she paid for the subscription of Sapthagiri, the TTD devotional monthly magazine in March, but she was not getting it. A caller Dinesh from Vijayawada suggested the EO to set up a dialysis unit in Tirumala for emergency purposes. Welcoming the suggestion, the EO said TTD will look into it.

Venkatapathi Sastry from Hyderabad urged EO to allocate rooms to senior citizens in the first floor considering their age by designing a separate software application. The EO said he will look into the possibility. Marimuttu from Tamil Nadu brought to the notice of TTD EO that a few devotees are carrying their children onto their shoulders, blocking others from having Srivari darshan. The EO said the problem will be resolved. In all 18 calls received on various issues during the programme.