Tirumala: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has condemned the false reports by a section of media over stopping free service here which tried to create confusion among the devotees.
In a statement on Saturday, the TTD, terming the media reports as void from facts, advocated that it has not stopped any free service like the pilgrims render to fellow pilgrims as part of Srivari Seva in Tirumala.
Putting forth the factual reports, TTD stated that before March 2020, there were all together 176 counters in Tirumala which issued laddus, darshan tokens, SSD counters, SED counters and Alipiri toll gate counter at Tirupati.
Out of which 86 were operated by Trilok, 40 by various banks, 18 laddu sevaks, and 29 by FM Agencies.While Trilok withdrew it’s services even before March 2020, other banks also gave up as it involved cash transactions. Similar with the case of Laddu Sevaks.
At present only two banks are running 16 counters and they are also pressurizing TTD on their withdrawal from services, the statement said.At this juncture, to give more transparent services to devotees, TTD has called for tenders which took place in a transparent manner.
KVM Info from Bengaluru which quoted the lowest bid in tender with Rs. 11,402 per shift per counter as against the previous value of Rs. 12,345 (both excluding GST).
TTD has reduced the counters from 176 to 164 as per it’s a requirement and even introduced deployment of personnel on a rotation basis changing staff once in every two months to avoid giving scope to any sort of misappropriation.
When TTD is taking decisions and implementing them for the good of pilgrims, it is unfortunate that a section of media is trying to malign the image of TTD among devout with their negative reports.
Basing on these false reports, some people with ulterior motives are trying to play games with the sentiments of devotees which is completely unethical, the statement added.(UNI)