The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that manages the country’s richest temple of Lord Venkateswara on Tirumala hills in Andhra Pradesh announced donation of Rs 19 crore to the state government towards Covid-19 relief fund.
TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singal said the TTD had already given an amount of Rs 8 crore to government officials of Chittoor district and the remaining Rs 11 crore would soon be handed over to them, to fight the coronavirus.
"Besides providing 50,000 food packets daily to support homeless people during lockdown in Tirupati rural and urban areas, TTD has allotted its rest houses as shelter to these people during the ongoing lockdown period," Singhal said.
He said there was no lapse in the conduct of daily rituals at Lord Venkateswara temple on the Tirumala hills, since the nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The EO also appealed to devotees against believing certain fake reports appearing in social media about the activities of the temple.
"Srivari temple has not been shut down as baselessly rumoured in social media but all daily rituals from Suprabhatam to Ekantha Seva are being conducted under the guidance and supervision of the archakas, as per agama traditions," he said.
He added that all activities of the Srivari temple are also being live telecasted by SVBC (Sri Venkateswara Bhakthi Channel) for devotees across the world.
Andhra Pradesh has recorded 303 positive cases for Coronavirus till Monday evening, including 37 new cases recorded since morning.
The state reported 60 cases on Sunday and 14 more between Sunday night and Monday morning. It means, as many as 111 cases in the last two days, besides two deaths.
