TTD hikes prasadam rates abnormally January 28, 2011 14:47
In what is seen as a commercial proposition, the TTD administration hiked the rates of Lord Venkateswara Prasadams abnormally with immediate effect from today.Citing the hike in production cost, the officials raised the cost of Jilebi from Rs.25 to Rs.70, Vada from Rs 4 to Rs.25 and Muruku from Rs. 4 to Rs.30. However, the most liked and sought after Prasadam ‘laddu’ was exempted from the hike. Small laddu continues to be available at the present rate of Rs.25 and that of the big laddu remains on Rs.100.Devotees of Lord Venkateswara reacted adversely to the hike of prasadam rates and majority of them did not approve of the decision. They say that TTD gets an income of Rs.1.7 Cr to Rs.2 Cr a day through Hundi offerings only and there is no need for the administration to hike the rates. However, officials defended their decision saying that the hike was long over due and necessitated following the abnormal increase of material used in the making of prasadams.
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T Slogans at Tirumala September 05, 2010 19:12
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders created a flutter at Tirumala by shouting “Jai Telangana” slogans at Arya Vysya Kalyana Mandapam, morning when they came here for the wedding of the Warangal West MLA, Mr Vinaya Bhaskar. The TRS leaders Mr Harish Rao, Mr Eetala Rajendra and Mr K.T. Rama Rao were present among those who attended the wedding function to bless the couple. The devotees who heard the slogans were apparently unhappy with the incident.
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Country's largest 'Goshala' September 12, 2010 15:08
The country's largest 'Goshala' in the network of the International Society for Krsna consciousness (ISKCON) is coming up 50 km northwest of the temple city of Tirupati. ISKCON has decided to make use of the 50 acres of land donated by a philanthropist in Rangannagarigadda village of Chinnagottigallu mandal by setting up a state-of-the-art cow protection centre to house a whopping 2000 heads of cattle.Lush-green meadowsGiven the area's contiguity to the Talakona forest, known for its serene ambience and dense foliage, the Goshala is expected to have a lot of grazing fields and lush-green meadows.Besides, its location just 4 km from the Tirupati-Anantapur stretch of NH 205 will also address the logistical issues. The present ‘Goshala' situated behind the ‘Lotus Temple' on Hare Krishna Road was established way back in 1982 with just three cows. It has now grown into a full-fledged facility with 280 animals, half of which are housed at the Akkarampalli branch on the city outskirts. The ashram has native breeds such as Kapila, Ongole, Punganur and Gir.
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Salary crisis: temporary reprieve for SV University April 12, 2011 18:32
The top-brass of Sri Venkateswara University, which was in a spot till Sunday due to lack of funds to pay salaries and pension to its staff members for the month of March, even ten days after the start of the month, got a reprieve, at least for the next twenty days. After that, the management would be in the same spot yet again to meet the wage and pension bills of its employees for the month of April, if the State government fails to respond to its SoS to release its blocked grants worth Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 12 crore, due for the first quarter of the current fiscal, without any more delay. As for the salary and pension bills of its staff for March, the university management cleared them on Monday. The university had to dash off letters to the Principals of all the University Colleges on Friday to immediately transfer Rs. 4 crore to the university account from their accounts as pending tuition fee and maintenance fee for the period 2007-08 to 2010-11. With the principals quickly responding and paying up the required sum of Rs. 4 crore on Monday, the university management met the ‘emergency' after mobilising some more funds from its own sources. A top university source said that it was a perennial problem which needed to be addressed on a permanent basis because if the uncertainty like this over the university's financial health was allowed to continue, besides affecting the academic atmosphere on the campus, it would also present the university and the State government in a poor light. The source attributed the financial stringency in the university to the rapid shrinkage in its territory over the past few years with the government setting up a university each in the districts of Nellore and Kadapa, which were once under the ambit of the SVU. Though government's intention was decentralisation, it did impact the university's revenues badly. With new universities coming up, the territory of SVU got shrunk so much that it was left with only Chittoor district and correspondingly the number of affiliated colleges under its control also had dwindled to a mere 180 from the 500-odd colleges. Affiliated colleges supply the life-blood to the universities for their existence in the form of affiliation charges, inspection fee, examination fee and so on. Any cut in the area of operation of a university and the consequent fall in the number of affiliated colleges under its ambit, would have a direct impact on its revenues from these sources. And that is what has happened in the SVU resulting in acute financial crisis.
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Chinta Mohan for developing cricket stadium in Tirupati April 30, 2011 17:27
If the words of MP Chinta Mohan are any indication, a foundation stone will be laid for the temple town's new sports landmark, an international cricket stadium, in another 100 days. A meeting was organised at SV Medical College here on Friday by bringing together stakeholders like educationists, sports activists, physical directors, politicians and policy makers to moot the idea of developing a cricket stadium of international standards in Tirupati, akin to the ones in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The discussion was set in motion by Member of Parliament Chinta Mohan, who announced that a former cricket player and an ardent devotee of Sri Venkateswara had agreed to develop the stadium as a token of reverence. He also admitted that the entire project hinged on the identification of a suitable piece of land in and around the city, which was suffering from the twin problems of paucity of lands and skyrocketing prices. Dr. Chinta Mohan said that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, himself a cricket player and a native of the district, would have the final say on identification of the site. While construction of a cricket stadium requires an estimated 50 acres of land, there are quite smaller chunks of land on SV University, SV Agricultural College (Peruru) and SV Vedic University campuses. The shelved housing project in Avilala tank bed, where the Congress plenary session was conducted in 1992, has 40 acres, but the Supreme Court guidelines against making any permanent structures on it comes in the way. A 26-acre bit at Vikruthamala village, abutting the international airport project, was also considered. TTD Executive Officer I.Y.R. Krishna Rao and former Speaker of Assembly Agarala Eswara Reddi said that the stadium would add yet another jewel to the city's crown, while Superintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) V. Ravinder discussed the infrastructure and traffic-related bottlenecks. Revenue Divisional Officer A. Prasad made a PowerPoint presentation on the availability of land in various areas and pointed to a private piece of land on Yerpedu-Venkatagiri Road.
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Attack victim's plea to TTD Special Authority April 21, 2011 18:09
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Specified Authority (S.A), which is scheduled to meet at Tirumala on Thursday, has been urged to initiate necessary departmental proceedings against some former leaders of the TTD Employees' Union for their alleged attack on two social activists on the premises the TTD's Administrative Building in February last. Narra Munichandra, former member of the Tirupati Urban Development Authority, one of the two victims of the attack, in a memorandum submitted to J. Sathyanarayana, Chairman of the S.A, has requested him to take up their case for discussion at least at the meeting on Thursday, as no action has been taken so far against those involved in the incident even as he, along with the Chittoor district president of the Tirumala Tirupati Samrakshana Samithi, D.R. Narendra, was reportedly entering the office premises to seek some details under the RTI. ‘Attack on devotees' Mr. Munichandra, in his memorandum to the S.A. chief, said that the physical attack on them amounted to an attack on the devotees of the lord, as the TTSS president and he were only fighting for the protection of the properties of the TTD.
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Two workers have a fatal fall from lorry April 26, 2011 19:57
Two workers from Dosapudi Agraharam in Visakhapatnam Rural had a fatal fall from atop a lorry when it capsized between Anjaneyapuram and Mamandur on the Tirupati-Kadapa highway here on Monday. E. Appa Rao, 40, and E. Babu Rao, 20, had come all the way from Visakhapatnam district to Khazipet in Kadapa district as labourers for sugarcane harvesting, along with nine others. After the work was finished, all the eleven workers sought ‘lift' up to Renigunta railway junction on the same sugarcane-laden lorry, which was proceeding towards a private sugar factory in Buchinaidu Kandriga. Nine injured When the driver applied sudden brakes, the lorry capsized near Mamandur. Appa Rao and Babu Rao came under the heavy load of sugarcane, while the other nine are grievously injured. Renigunta police are investigating.
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