Interesting as it might sound, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board, at its recent meeting, is learnt to have rejected proposals submitted by two senior ministers in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet, including deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan and revenue minister Anagani Satya Prasad, seeking allocation of land at Tirumala for construction of official guest houses.
According to sources, Pawan Kalyan and Satya Prasad independently requested the TTD to allocate land on the Tirumala hills for constructing guest houses for the panchayat raj and revenue departments.
Satya Prasad reportedly proposed that given the key role of the revenue department, which includes the endowments department, in the VIP protocol and festival arrangements at Tirumala, a dedicated guest house is necessary. He wanted two acres of land on the hill shrine.
Prior to this, a similar proposal was submitted from the office of the deputy chief minister, requesting land for construction of a Panchayat Raj Bhavan guest house at Tirumala.
Both proposals were discussed during the TTD trust board meeting, where it was decided to reject the requests.
The decision was based on the acute scarcity of land on the Tirumala hills, where new constructions have been restricted for several years.
The restrictions are in line with directions issued by the high court, under which the TTD has resolved to limit itself to renovation and reconstruction of dilapidated existing guest houses and cottages, rather than permitting new buildings.
As an alternative, the TTD has decided that suitable accommodation from among the existing guest houses at Tirumala may be allotted to the concerned departments, instead of allocating fresh land.
In a related decision, the TTD has also taken a firm stand on the naming of guest houses, stating that all guest houses at Tirumala will continue to bear names associated with deities.
The administration has conveyed to donors and stakeholders that no new guest houses will be named after individuals or departments.
