Tirumala wakes up to luxury pad culture

TIRUPATI(India),March29,2012: Since all pilgrims are equal in the eyes of the Lord, there is no private property in Tirumala, the hilltop where Balaji's temple is located. All land and property belongs to the Lord, in other words is controlled by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). So if pilgrims have to stay on the hills before and after a darshan (some of which could be at the crack of dawn and too long to traverse at odd hours from downhill in Tirupati) it has to be at a TTD-owned guest house. But the rich and the powerful want their own luxury pads on the hill, they don't want to stay at sparsely furnished guest houses.So how do you go around doing this, considering the ban on private property at Tirumala? The answer is simple: build luxury guest houses and donate them to TTD in the name of pilgrim service. But in name, the TTD controls these luxury guest houses and makes room allotments. However, in reality the guest houses are controlled by the big industrialists and companies who build them.Since 2004, TTD has been liberally allotting land in Sri Padmavathi Nagar. At that time, there were only 20 guest houses. In the last six years, 55 more VIP and private guest houses have sprung up on the hilltop."This is nothing but a luxury pad culture. Resorts have been built on the hilltop with no consideration that it is a hilltop that has limited land," says former director general of AP police T Suryanarayana Rao, who is also president of Tirumala Tirupati Samrakshana Samithi (TTSS). Many top business houses have their guest houses at Tirumala.As per rules, donors who build guest houses can stay for 30 days in a calendar year (not exceeding 10 days at a time). But the rich donors keep the guest houses for themselves by paying 11 months of rent to TTD."There is no need to construct any new buildings as cottages, guest houses and dormitories atop Tirumala can easily accommodate 40,000 pilgrims a day. Building more accommodation means getting more pilgrims to Tirumala and putting more pressure for darshan," said a senior IAS officer who was at the TTD's helm. Sources say there is immense pressure from common pilgrims to stay in the guest houses after being told that these belong to the TTD. But TTD refuses to allot rooms in guest houses reserving this privilege for VIPs and of course the industrialists who built them. Two deputy executive officers are chartered with the job of allocation of rooms to VIPs and high-brow pilgrims. "They decide which guest house would be suitable for these pilgrims as per their status and class," retired temple superintendent Jayaramaiah says. "Rich pilgrims, especially from metros do not mind throwing money to get accommodation," PVRK Prasad, former EO, says. Ironically, very little information is made public about how many VIP guest houses have available rooms with most of them donning 'No occupancy' boards."Money, clout and fame is enough, the TTD will roll out a red carpet for you. TTD must realize that Tirumala is not a tourist spot but a place of worship," points out Parvatha Rao, former TTD legal counsel.However, in what is a ray of hope, after a furore created by activists that the fragile ecology of the hilltop will be destroyed by rampant constructions, permissions for new guest houses have been stopped. Some works in progress have also been halted.
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