Khammam: The auditing being done on the accounts of Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam exposed the malpractice of some of the officials.
The role of the employees in the funds misuse is being investigated. Auditors of endowment department inspected the accounts of temple revenue and other income details. Unprecedented rush was witnessed during Athirathram Puja programme conducted by a spiritual organisation during 2012-13.
Thousands of devotees, who came to Bhadrachalam to watch the programme, thronged to the temple and offered prayers by buying tickets for various prayers. The temple got Rs 1.97 crore from sale of various darshan tickets and another Rs 6.27 crore from laddu and other prasadam.
About Rs 16 lakh revenue came to the temple through kalyana katta where devotees offered their hair to the Lord Rama and Goddess Sita. There are no accounts pertaining to the darshan tickets of Mulavarulu and sale of Chakkera Pongali prasadam.
The accounts of Rs 6.85 lakh are not available and an employee failed to show the remaining tickets to the audit officials and the missing tickets is worth Rs 2.5 lakh.
For Sita Rama Kalyanam held on Sriramanavami day in 2013-14, there are no accounts for ticket sales amounting to another Rs 7 lakh. It was also found that the officials had miserably failed to sell the VIP tickets though there was demand for it during Utharadwara darshan and Sriramanavami Day.
Reserving these VIP and VVIP tickets anticipating the arrival of VIPs caused a loss of lakhs of rupees to the temple. An endowment official said that the officials have been treating the temple rituals as their personal affair and not related to the lakhs of devotees.
