TTD additional EO A V Dharma Reddy meets bankers on clearing of coins

Tirumala: TTD additional executive officer A V Dharma Reddy on Saturday held a meeting here with bankers on clearing the accumulated coins which was to the tune of Rs 4.33 crore and also on the Parakamani (sorting and counting of hundi offerings in Tirumala temple) activity.

In the last four months, the coins offered by the devotees in the temple Hundi as cash offering remain with the TTD for disposal.

The Addl EO said that due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, about Rs 4.33crore coins got accumulated in the last four months period and asked the bankers to sort them out once.

In this connection, he said that before Covid, the bankers helped TTD to clear about Rs 52 crore accumulated coins which were lifted by various banks almost clearing the coin offerings received from the devotee and sought the banker to take steps for the Rs 4.33 crore coins also as early as possible.

It may be noted here that Hundi collection that is the cash offerings of Tirumala temple which was on average daily about Rs 3 crore before Covid is fell down sharply due to TTD limiting the number of devotees being allowed for darshan adhering to Covid restrictions like maintaining distance and other safety norms, resulting in TTD facing funds crunch and is forced mot to spare any available resources to meet its huge expenses including maintenance of its temples and also salaries to its huge contingent of employees which alone is monthly about Rs 70 crore. .

The Hundi income gradually increased to Rs 60-70 lakh after darshan resumed but again came down to about Rs 50 lakh now with the decrease in the number of devotees being allowed for darshan, which came down from 12,000 to 9,000, after TTD stopped Sarvadarshan following surge in Covid cases in Tirupati. Parakamani DyEO Venkataiah and branch managers of various banks attended the meet.