Balaji, Lord of 2 hills or 7 hills? - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: The credibility of one of the richest Gods on earth, Lord Balaji's fair name is at stake. Now the theory of two hills has come back for discussion, thanks to the officials, authorities and the politicians who could not after all these years, earmark the boundaries for Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam.

According to LV Subrahmanyam, the executive officer TTD, the survey of the lands is yet to be completed and there is a fresh move to fix the boundaries for Lord Balaji's area falling under TTD.

The Forest department has come up with claims that the area falling under two hills belong to the Lord and the remainder is Seshachalam forest area belonging to the government.

Since the matter could provoke the sentiments of millions of pilgrims across the world, it is being kept under wraps. While the survey of the lands is on, the officials are in no position to tell the public if the Lord is the owner of the areas falling under seven hills or just two hills.

Earlier, the YSR government had released a GO saying Lord Venkateswara's assets were only two hills covering an area of 27.5 sq. kms. The other five hills would be taken over by the government and converted into a picnic spot with multiplexes, food courts, commercial, sports and entertainment infrastructure, including a rope-way to reach Tirumala and the top of the hills!

They wanted to make it a commercial zone and Samuel the then secretary of the government had issued a GO to this extent. But there was a heavy backlash from the Hindu organisations with the BJP terming YSR as a pro-Christian.

He was forced to rescind the GO and issue another one stating that the land falling under the seven hills belonged to the TTD and that Lord Balaji is the absolute owner of that land. TDP leader Chandrababu opposed the two hills GO vehemently in the State Assembly and said no one survived going against the Lord.

The issue had seemed to have been resolved, but the forest department's fresh claim has sparked the debate again. The issue came up when the TTD was trying to lay water pipelines across the forest area to the Hills for drinking water purpose. The Forest officials objected to the way the things were going on in the forest area.

But the Agama pandits claiming Puranas and Vedas say that that Balaji is the Lord of the seven Hills and this was accepted much before the Britishers had even set foot on our land. And the Endowment Department is gratified that the Britishers gave 10.33 Sq miles to Balaji instead of 4.5 Sq miles as originally decided. 'They were far more considerate than our own leaders,' rued one official.

Yet, successive TTD Boards and governments have not rectified this issue of ownership by declaring the entire area of the vast Hills measuring 250 plus sq miles as Balaji's lands.

Now there could be agitations again demanding the government of AP and the Central government to notify the entire forest area falling under seven hills as belonging to Balaji with the TTD as the current administrators. And this is non-negotiable.