TTD Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy on Friday took a strong exception to how a few political leaders were trying to “politicise the temple issues for their selfish gains”.
The TTD EO said the BJP leader G. Bhanuprakash Reddy’s comments on the renovation of the ancient ‘Parvetu Mandapam’ atop the town and a wayside mandapam at Alipiri in Tirupati were unwarranted and misleading.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Dharma Reddy said the renovation of the ‘Parvetu Mandapam’ was necessitated as the structure had reached a precarious stage and demanded immediate repairs. Respecting the sentiments of devotees, more than 90% of the pillars and stones extracted from the old structure were used in its renovation. The main intention, he said, was to usher a fresh lease of life to the dilapidated structure and deflect any unfortunate incident.
The same is the case with the wayside mandapam in Alipiri. Over the years, TTD has taken up several repair works to the structure, which dates back to the 16th century and serves as a resting place for trekking pilgrims. But with the mandapam going beyond the scope of repairs, the engineering officials, in their technical report, have recommended its renovation.
Substantiating TTD’s stance, he cited the instance of caving-in of the 500-year-old Rajagopuram in Sri Kalahasti and questioned if BJP or other political leaders would dare to come forward and shoulder the responsibility if something adverse were to happen.
Further hitting hard, he said that why didn’t Bhanuprakash Reddy, who is now crying wolf, raise his voice when several repairs were effected at the hill temple and other TTD-run temples when he was a member trustee of the temple board? Such double standards should be tantamount to doing injustice to the Hindu religion, he said.
Brushing aside the criticism that TTD has not sought the permission of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), he said the need was never felt as the structures were not covered under the ASI.
Cautioning that the tendency to derive undue political mileage for petty gains will have an adverse impact on the religious sentiments of devotees, he said he was prepared for any kind of open challenge with regard to renovation decision of the management.
