TTD to construct fifth PAC at a whopping cost of Rs. 100 crores for the benefit of ordinary devotees
TTD Executive officer A.V. .Dharma Reddy has denied any major hike in the rents of cottages meant for common pilgrims and said that a misleading campaign was being intentionally carried out by people with vested interests to malign the reputation of the institution.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Mr. Reddy said that of the 7,500 cottages and suites available at Tirumala, about 75% of them were within the reach of common pilgrims with a rental tariff between ₹50 and ₹100. Further, the TTD had taken up renovation of these cottages at a whopping ₹120 crore and installed hot water geysers, provided new furniture, doors, windows and relayed the flooring. Though the maintenance (electricity, laundry and housekeeping) of each of these suites ran around ₹200 to ₹250 the TTD had not changed the tariff.
For the benefit of the common pilgrims, the board recently resolved to construct a massive Pilgrim Amenities Complex — the fifth of its kind — at a cost of over ₹100 crore with an inbuilt provision for free lockers, rest rooms, tonsuring and nourishment.
It was only at the request of devotees that the management had provided a facelift to a handful cottages numbering just 172 for those seeking better accommodation and the enhancement of rents was confined to these cottages alone which aggregated to 2.5% of the total cottages.
Detailing various activities taken up by the management, which included setting up of RO plants, inclusion of breakfast in the menu at Free meals complex, setting up food counters at vantage points, recommissioning of old Annadanam complex, free medical clinics at Vaikuntam complex, free tonsuring, transportation facilities, deployment of battery vehicles for the aged, one free laddu to every visiting pilgrim, free luggage and mobile deposit centres, free surgeries for children, concessional medical treatment at SVIMS, BIRRD and Ayurveda hospitals, old age homes, free education to about 20,000 students at various schools and colleges under its fold, cancellation of VIP darshan on crowded and festive occasions etc. he said despite all the good it was unfortunate that a section of media flashed half baked news, and appealed to the devout not to believe in such fallacious information and at the same time reiterated that common pilgrims have always remained on the top of TTD’s agenda.
