The sudden spike in coronavirus cases in Tirupati, and Chittoor district at large in the last few days has kept the officials on their toes.
Statistics suggest that a three-fold rise has been reported. With the news of priests of Lord Venkatewswara temple contracting the infection surfacing, eyebrows are being raised on the implementatin of COVID-19 protocols at the hill shrine and the preaparedness of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to check the spread of virus.
Accusing the temple trust board of misleading the government on the COVID situation, Congress leader P. Naveen Kumar Reddy demanded action against the TTD.
“A senior priest of the temple took to the Twitter to level many allegations. Now, the TTD must put the record straight,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) urged that the TTD management to ‘lend an ear to the silent pleas of the employees and priests’.
“Will the TTD take responsibility if something happens to the priests?, asked TNSF national coordinator and TDP youth leader A. Ravi Naidu.
Squarely blaming the decision to allow devotees from most-affected States such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra for the spurt in the cases, both the parties said that the denizens of Tirumala and Tirupati would be at more risk of contracting the infection, if the Tirumala temple remained open for darshan.
