Tirupati temple reforms begin with laddoo prasad: What all devotees can expect

The new board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), as reconstituted by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, has announced wide-ranging transformative measures at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, beginning with improving the quality of the laddoo prasad in the wake of a recent controversy over its purity.
New norms are being specified to boost the quality of ghee used in making the prasad consumed by thousands every year. Tirumala is also to be developed into a model town with spiritual ambience.
“The decisions aim to enhance efficiency in the temple’s management, improve the experience for devotees and safeguard their religious sentiments,” asserted new TTD chairman B.R. Naidu, underlining that addressing the laddoo prasad-related concerns were top priority.
“We are appointing an expert committee to decide on the choice of ghee for making the laddoo prasad and setting up a laboratory of very high standards to test its quality. The laboratory will cost about Rs 90 lakh. We are committed to maintaining the purity and sanctity of temple offerings, which hold immense significance for devotees worldwide,” he said.
In another devotee-sensitive measure, the TTD has decided to embrace artificial intelligence to significantly reduce waiting lines for free darshan (‘Sarva Darshanam’) to about three hours. “Queue management is complex. Our priority is to provide quicker and convenient access by reducing the time devotees have to wait from over 12 hours on rush days to just three,” said Naidu.
In another move, the TTD has decided to send all non-Hindu staff of the Tirupati temple to other government departments, such as revenue or municipal administration, or allow them to opt for voluntary retirement. This is in keeping with Chandrababu Naidu’s assembly poll campaign promise.
The decision will impact about 300 of the TTD’s 7,000 permanent employees. There are another 14,000 contract employees under the TTD management, headed by J. Syamala Rao as executive officer. Rao, a senior IAS official of the Andhra government, was appointed to the position in June. “There is an urgent need for a vision document. The TTD will set up an urban development and town planning wing for this purpose,” said Rao.
Besides sending away all non-Hindu staff, the TTD board has decided to not allow propagation of any other religion in Tirumala. “There is no question of allowing propagation of any religion other than Hinduism. We are also imposing a ban on politicians or others making politically loaded comments on the Tirumala hills. If anyone indulges in this practice, we will file cases against them,” chairman Naidu declared.
Altering decisions taken during the previous Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) rule, the TTD board restored the name of the flyover in Tirupati to Garuda Varadhi, from Srinivas Setu as was christened by the YSRCP. Also, the Sri Venkateswara Alaya Nirmanam (SRIVANI) Trust, established during the YSRCP administration in September 2019 to promote Hinduism and fund temple construction, is being disbanded. Donations to the trust, which are linked to ‘VIP darshans’ at the Tirumala temple, have been popular among devotees since these helped avoid the excessively long queues.
The SRIVANI accounts will be merged into the main TTD account in the wake of doubts about its operations. According to TTD sources, the SRIVANI Trust, since its launch in 2019, had collected donations to the tune of Rs 1,086 crore from 1 million devotees, who had extended Rs 10,000 each.
After the Telugu Desam Party, Jana Sena and the BJP, who were in the Opposition at that time, alleged irregularities in the SRIVANI Trust, the then TTD administration released a white paper to dismiss the corruption claims. An inquiry is being initiated into the alleged irregularities.
The TTD board decided to restore darshan for residents of Tirupati on the first Tuesday of the month. To check irregularities, the practice of providing darshan quota tickets to the tourism corporations of several states is being stopped owing to suspicion of misuse of this privilege. “There was gross misuse of these darshan tickets as revealed by a vigilance inquiry. We don’t need tourism-sponsored darshan. We are a religious institution,” chairman Naidu emphasised.
The TTD, in another significant decision, decided to reclaim land of the Visakha Sarada Peetham and take over its control after cancelling the lease. The board felt the Visakha Sarada Peetham was built by flouting rules. “The entire structure will be razed and the land taken over,” said Naidu. In reversing another YSRCP government fiat, which scrapped the earlier Chandrababu Naidu government’s decision to develop the Deva Lokam project and allotted 20 acres on the Alipiri Zoo Park Road for a five-star hotel project, the board decided to request the state forest department to restore the land lease for the Deva Lokam project.
Rao said the TTD board has also decided to boost spiritual ambience in Tirumala by naming the existing cottages after divine names. “For this, TTD is contemplating issuing a list of about 150 divine names that the donors of cottages can select from,” he said.
Rao also said the legacy waste, which has piled up over the past few years, will be cleared in the next two or three months in Tirumala. “The ultimate goal of TTD is to ensure that every inch of Tirumala reflects its spiritual significance,” he asserted.
Chairman Naidu is optimistic that the reforms he has initiated will enable the Tirupati shrine to retain its preeminent status as the largest devotee draw among places of worship in the country.
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