Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam trust's move to drop non-Hindus employees from the trust has sparked controversy. The move is being made at the world's richest Hindu temple, Tirupati.
TTD trust chairman BR Naidu said that there are some employees of the trust who are non-Hindus, and they have to resign on their own. Or else they can be transferred to any other department under the government.
Naidu said that the trust would write to the state government to make an appropriate decision about the non-Hindus working in Tirumala. He said that TT is a Hindu religious institution, and the board felt that it should not employ non-Hindus to work in the temple. He added that the trust will request the government to either absorb the currently working non-Hindus in various departments or offer them a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
According to a 2018 report, 44 non-Hindus work under the Tirupati Devaswom Trust.
According to a PTI report, the newly formed trust announced important decisions at a meeting held on November 18 in front of the media.
TTD made the decision at a meeting of the freshly constituted TTD trust board headed by BR Naidu. This is the first meeting of TTD after the recent controversy over the alleged adulteration of ghee used for the preparation of “laddu prasadam.”
Over the controversy, the TTD also decided to constitute a committee to monitor the quality of ghee used in the preparation of Tirumala laddus and other prasadams, Hindustan Times reported. Chairman Naidu also announced that TTD has decided to introduce one more item to the food menu at the Anna Prasadam complex, where free food is provided to the devotees after darshan.