Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Dev-asthanams, the biggest temple administration in the country which boasts of an annual budget of Rs 2400 crore and a workforce bigger the size of a mini government has completely stayed away from the relief and rehabilitation operations underway at the Hudhud cyc-lone affected areas in-cluding Visakhapat-nam, Srikakulam, Vizi-anagaram and other parts.
While Chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and almost the entire administrative machinery of the state have dedicated themselves to the relief operations underway at Visakhapatnam and right from the common man, students, teaching community, trade and industry circle, temple administrations and even other states have chipped in with timely support as part of relief measures, TTD has stayed aloof to the devastation, destruction and the suffering of the people within the state for reasons best known to the administration.
Interestingly, the TTD administration which immersed itself in the relief operations during 2001 cyclone which affected Nellore and Kadapa districts by at least distributing 30,000 food packets a day has distanced itself from the relief operations this time around.
Although it is true that donations should never come by force but by will, several senior state government officials in Tirupati are of the opinion that the TTD employees, who enjoy better benefits than most government employees, must take a leaf out of the gesture of the APNGOs, pensioners and teachers, who unitedly contributed their two days’ salary to the tune of Rs 125 crore towards Hudhud cyclone relief.
