TTD withdraws cases against devotees

Hyderabad:The high-handed attitude of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials against pilgrims on Thursday came under severe attack forcing the TTD board to withdraw all cases filed against the agitated devotees.

The TTD's mismanagement came to the fore on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi when board officials instead of providing facilities to the common devotees were immersed in serving VVIPs. Lakhs of devotees visited Tirumala on January 11 to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwara on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi.

The TTD board, which gave away 6,000 passes to VIPs during the 2013 Vaikunta Ekadashi, gave away over 8,950 passes to VIPs this year, forcing the general devotees to wait for more than 18 hours in queue compartments. The process of giving entry to VIPs lasted for about six hours from 1 am to 7 am on Saturday.

As per the practice, in the first batch (A1) constitutional heads such as ministers (state and Centre) are given passes and then in the next level, passes are given to MPs, MLAs, IAS and IPS officers.

Devotees alleged that the passes were sold to private persons by middlemen, thus depriving them of darshan on the auspicious day of Ekadasi. When devotees were deprived of darshan even on Dwadashi, they broke open gate no 9 and 15. Agitated at the discretionary functioning of TTD, the devotees staged dharna in front of the office of TTD chairman K Bapiraju.

Police booked cases against the devotees for staging a dharna. Justifying the cases, TTD EO M G Gopal said that there was total prohibition on dharnas at Tirumala. 'If the devotees act against rules, definitely cases will be booked against them,' he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP and TDP leaders approached HRC demanding action against the board members. BJP president G Kishan Reddy demanded total revamp of the TTD board by including non-political persons. He urged the police to take action against the middlemen involved in black marketeering of passes.

He urged the Governor ESL Narasimhan to order a high level inquiry and take action against the culprits. The TTD officials should be booked for mismanagement and causing inconvenience for devotees, said Kishan Reddy.

TDP MLA G Muddu Krishnamma Naidu alleged that under world don Dawood Ibrahim's aides were provided darshan under A1 category. He said that the authorities allowed criminal Ajay to enter into the temple from the door which is accessed by employees. Even the governor and the chief ministers are not allowed to enter in this way, he added.

Actor Shivaji staged dharna in front of the TTD Kalyana Mandapam at Himayatnagar protesting cases against the devotees. It is inhuman to impose cases against the devotees coming to have darshan.

'The cases should be withdrawn. The board should ask the leaders not to come to the temple during the special occasions since it would cause inconvenience to the devotees,' said Shivaji.

The VHP has decided to fight legally against the TTD and demanded the board to apologize to the devotees for imposing cases. Cornered with criticism from all corners, the TTD withdrew cases against devotees on Thursday.

TTD officer Ch Ramana said he would apologize to the devotees on behalf of the TTD.Taking serious note of the representations made by TDP and BJP, the state human rights commission (HRC) directed the endowments commissioner to submit his report on the issue by January 30.