Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is a symbol of faith, devotion and spirituality all over the world. Every day thousands of devotees come to visit the Lord. In this process, it is natural that they accidentally lose items like cash, jewellery, mobile phones and chargers. A command control has been set up to secure and return the lost items of the devotees.
But the recently revealed Vigilance Wing report has tainted this sacred system with the stain of corruption. The lost items of the devotees should be collected and registered in the register. If the owners do not come, the items should be put in the Lord’s hundi. This is the rule. But in reality, this system was completely ignored and the investigation revealed that the staff shared the items as if saying “you have this, we have this”.
The Vigilance Wing confirmed that these irregularities took place during the YSRCP regime in 2023. Evidence has shown that this incident took place under the supervision of the then in-charge Vigilance Inspector Sivashankar in the Command Control. The report clearly states that the staff, PSGs, HGs, vendors, and AWPOs shared the lost items of the devotees. Mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, cash, gold ornaments, watches, and chargers were shared without exception.
The investigation also revealed that some staff members were given one mobile phone each. Another thing here is that no records or registers were maintained. Whose items were lost? How many were collected? To whom were they returned? There is no evidence anywhere. The Vigilance Wing clearly states that this is a systematic robbery.
It is reported that some staff members who participated in the investigation also admitted to this misuse. Despite clear evidence in the vigilance report, no strict action was taken against the in-charge inspector, Sivashankar. Instead, he was transferred to the parent department.
This has further strengthened the suspicions about the hand of the TTD high officials. Many doubts are arising among the public and devotees. It is suggested that digital records, CCTV camera monitoring and independent audit systems should be made mandatory to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.
