Tirumala: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which administers the richest temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala and boasts of the biggest budget for any temple in the country is facing a Herculean task of administering “taken-over” temples in the state.
While there is no shortfall in revenues of the Tirumala temple which has skyrocketed over the last decade to a whopping Rs 2,401 crore for the financial year 2014-15, the incomes of most of the 18 temples taken over by the TTD across the state has remain paltry.
The temple administration which was administering a very few ancient temples like Tiruchanur Padmavathi Ammavari temple, Govindaraja swamy temple, Kodandarama swamy temple and Kapila Teertham in Tirupati and a very few other temples inside Chittoor district two decades back, has now 29 temples in its fold across India including the 18 in AP.
According to sources in the TTD, state governments led by the TD back in 1999-2004 followed by the Congress between 2004-2014, yielded to political pressures from ministers and MLAs and released government orders instructing the TTD to take over several temples into its fold.
Managing these temples has become an expensive affair and is posing an additional burden on the TTD which is already having its own set of problems in dealing with the ever-increasing crowds at Tirumala and other prominent shrines in Tirupati.
After taking over these temples, the TTD has not only spent crores of rupees in giving a face-lift to them, but has also spent huge amount of money in running the day-to-day affairs of the temples and holding annual festivities including nine day Brahmotsavams in a grand manner.
The income-expenditure statement particulars of temples taken over by the TTD for the financial year 2013-14 presents the clear picture.
While the income from the temples was Rs 3,30,72,310, the expenditure was 3,67,53,415. Barring a few temples, there was a serious mismatch in the income-expenditure of most of the temples.
Even though temples are not built or taken over with an aim to make profits, lack of guidelines while taking over temples by the TTD and succumbing to political or governmental pressures, is leading to a big hole in the TTD’s budget. This budget is again based on offerings made by devotees.
Many of the senior officials strongly believe that the TTD cannot go on taking over temples across the state, especially with several constraints regarding manpower and spending huge amounts towards grants-in-aid, which in the future would definitely take a toll on the ‘mega budget’ of the TTD and there must be a full stop for this somewhere down the line.
