Corruption is a way of life in Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams

TOI

TIRUPATI, 28 March 2012: The Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD) not only manages one of the most revered temples in India but is also the richest temple board in the country. With a mammoth Rs 2,000-crore annual budget, 10,000 staffers in 98 wings, it is not surprising therefore that the menace of corruption has seeped into its system.

 

"It’s a mini state in itself, giving rise to corruption at every level ," says a senior temple official. Right from the time a pilgrim gets down at Tirupati to catch a bus to the Tirumala hills for a darshan, has his head tonsured, obtains an appointment with the joint executive officer for accommodation, buys laddu prasadam, he has to grease the palms of employees and agents.

 

Corruption has became a norm, ’1+1’ has become the code word to get things done. By this, a pilgrim has to pay double of what he is entitled for a service. Madhava Reddy, an onion trader from Hindupur , had the bitter experience of shelling out Rs 5,000 to a tout recently. "Though an AC room costs Rs 1,500, I had to spend Rs 5,000 since they took Rs 1,500 as commission towards accommodation (under 1+1 scheme) and Rs 2,000 more for darshan and prasadam," he said. Reddy says that he had to depend on the agents because the other option was to run from pillar to post to get recommendation letters for darshan/accommodation from a top official or an MLA. "It’s institutionalized corruption as an artificial demand is created by the staff in cahoots with brokers ," points out a former executive officer of TTD. At Kalyanakatta, where pilgrims offer their hair in fulfilment of their vows, tonsuring service is free or one can take Rs 10 tokens. But here there is no 1+ 1, it is worse. lEvery barber takes Rs 50-100 from each pilgrim. There are over 500 barbers. The union president of barber association, was caught handing over the day’s moolah to the superintendent on a close circuit camera last year. The official was suspended but later reinstated. Insiders say that after that episode whenever barbers take money, they look straight into the cameras to avoid detection.

 

 

Then, there are TTD publications counters at various places atop the hill, which are always under lock and key. If pilgrims want to buy books, they have to walk 5 km from the main temple. "Thousands of books are printed at the TTD printing press. Corruption in this wing alone runs into Rs 150 crore," alleges advocate Srinivas.

 

Similarly, there are several AC rooms for pilgrims. But the ACs are always under repair. "There are no records on how many ACs are in working condition but they keep placing orders for new ACs," says a former official not wanting to be named.

 

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The vigilance and enforcement (V&E ) department of AP government, which probed the multi-crore Srivari Arjitha seva ticket scam in 2009, charged the TTD board and administration of colluding with hoteliers and travel agents. The seva and darshan tickets were sold to hotel managements and travel agencies for a higher price which, in turn, sold them to devotees at an even higher price. "The V&E found an ex-chairman of TTD guilty of having booked in 2008 seva tickets worth lakhs of rupees in the name of members of his family until the year 2060. But no action was taken," a senior IAS officer who served TTD explains.

 

Institutional corruption is often seen in production of laddus -- 1.5 lakh are made every day. The marketing wing procures besan flour, sugar, ghee, cashew nuts, raisins, almonds and cardamom in bulk at the auction at the Commodities and Spices Exchange in Kochi. "But some times, the stocks are bought from suppliers and contractors from Nellore, Bangalore and Delhi. The contractors supply inferior quality stocks but claim money for top grade ingredients since they would have to give a cut to the officials," says former deputy executive officer V Naidu.

 

TTD has a separate diesel depot. But no one has a clue as to how much petrol/diesel is bought and siphoned off. Senior officials like deputy director, assistant/deputy executive officer, OSD are given special motor car advance with free issue of 150-250 litres of fuel every month. "They exhaust the quota and obtain the fuel through other means for which no account is shown," claims retired deputy executive officer Prabhakar Reddy. TTD executive officer L V Subramanyam was not available for comments.

 

The Public Accounts Committee, in its special report, had recommended that adequate internal controls should be in place. But the recommendations of the report are yet to be implemented. A senior official says there should be a research and analysis wing which is independent of government and TTD control to keep tabs on all the wings to check corruption. With over 20,000 dalaris (agents) at work, it’s hard to believe that TTD would ever be corruption-free !