Responding to a story published in Andhra Jyothy daily today that the specially empowered committee of the TTD has secretly decided to hand over the maintenance of its nine temples including that of the famous lord Venkateswara Swamy to the Archeological Survey of India and written a letter to the state government recommending suitable action in this regard, the TTD executive officer clarified that the issue was not kept secret.

EO Krishna Rao told a media conference in Tirupathi this afternoon that the decision of the committee was very much displayed on its website and it was not shrouded in secrecy or mystery. “There was no necessity for secrecy also,” he said.

The decision to write a letter to the government to hand over the temple to the archeological department was taken to protect the ancient nature of the temples since there are ancient writings on the temple walls belonging to the period between 500 BC and 300 AD.

In its story, the Andhra Jyothy daily expressed fear that the temple administration will have to depend on permission from Delhi for undertaking each and every small repair whenever necessary and for initiating necessary changes to suit the growing needs of devotees if the temple is handed over to the archeological department,

The only aim behind such a decision is to protect the ancient nature of the temples and hand them over to the future generations of devotees without disturbing their originality, Krishna Rao clarified.

“The famous Puri Jagannatha temple and the Brihadeeswara temple are under the control of archeological department and the department will take care of the TTD temples too in the similar manner adopted in case of the Puri temples,” he said.