Tirumala, july 4 (Hydnow): The Emergency Board Meeting was held at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala on Saturday. The meeting chaired by TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy discussed on some important issues. The meeting was followed by press meet. Some Excerpts:
We have resumed darshan of Lord Venkateswara from June 8 onwards. We have carried out a survey on the pilgrims who had darshan and reached their home places. Not even a single devotee has been tested positive. But as the Covid cases are increasing across the country, we are not going to enhance the pilgrim numbers for darshan till this month end.
The pilgrims have also been following the Covid guidelines prescribed by TTD with utmost discipline and having hassle free darshan of Lord Venkateswara. However, the Chairman again appealed to devotees to book their darshan slots in online only and avoid pilgrimage if they belong to Red Zone or Containment Zones.
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In TTD, 17 employees have tested positive. But they got affected by Covid spread in their respective places they hail from and not in Tirumala. We will not compromise on spending money over the health safety and security of our employees and have already instructed the authorities to provide them best treatment. Instead of a week shift for employees, we are now contemplating two week shift for the employees to ensure their health safety. Every employee will be tested for Corona and then only they will be allowed to discharge their duties. The local legislators B Karunakar Reddy, Dr C Bhaskar Reddy along with Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy will instill confidence among the employees by holding meetings with Employees Associations.
Over the request of some devotees we are considering Online Kalyanotsavam. Anyway the kalyanam is being telecasted live everyday on SVBC. The archakas will read out the Gotra Namas of the devotees who books the Kalyanotsavam tickets in online. We are also planning to send prasadams through postal department.
More safety measures at Kalyanakatta will be ensured. The barbers will be given gloves, half PPE kits for the safety of both barbers as well as the pilgrims. The barber has to change the handgloves after tonsuring every pilgrim. Vahanam bearers should wear masks and gloves and vahanams will be sanitized at regular intervals. Similar measures will be taken even at prasadam distribution centres and also at local temples.
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The 15 year old long pending issue of Karnataka Chowltries has come to an end with initiatives by both the CMs of AP and Karnataka. In the land leased to Karnataka Charities at Tirumala, both TTD and Karnataka Government have agreed to construct a Pilgrim Amenities Complex and Kalyana Mandapam.
The Karnataka Government would soon submit a plan to TTD Board for approval. Thereafter the Karnataka Government will also deposit ₹200 Crore with TTD for taking up the construction works. In the ensuing Sravana month, the Karnataka CM Sri Yediyurappa also assured to come for foundation stone laying ceremony for which he would also invite AP CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
To have a transparency in allotting sites towards the construction of rest houses in Tirumala, online bidding process will be enabled soon.
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TTD Ex-officio including TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal, TUDA Chairman and Ex-officio member Dr C Bhaskar Reddy, TTD board members Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy, Sri K Parthasarathi, Murali Krishna, Sri Chippagiri Venkata Prasad, special invitees B Karunakar Reddy, AJ Sekhar, Sri Govinda Hari, Addl EO AV Dharma Reddy, Tirupati JEO P Basanth Kumar, CVSO Sri Gopinath Jattiw ere present. While other Board Members participated in the emergency board meeting via vedio conference.(Hydnow)