Tirupati (AP): Facing stiff opposition to the proposed auctioning 50 immovable 'unviable' properties donated by devotees of Lord Venkateswara, the Andhra Pradesh government on Monday suspended it and asked the hill temple administration to re-examine its decision.
The government directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers the cash-rich hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala, to take a fresh decision on auctioning the properties in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand after consulting devotees and religious heads among others, a temple official said.
"Keeping in view the sentiments of devotees, the government hereby directs TTD to re-examine the issue in consultation with different stakeholders like religious elders, opinion makers, a section of devotees etc.," a government order said.
It asked the TTD to ascertain whether these properties located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand can be used by it for construction of temples, dharma pracharam and other religious activities.
The decision came amid opposition by BJP, Janasena party, CPI-M, TDP and Congress besides devotees, who contended that the move would hurt the sentiments of those who had donated the properties to the ancient temple of Lord Venkateswara.
TTD Trust Board Chairman refutes reports
Meanwhile, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust Board chairman YV Subba Reddy refuted the reports calling them “politically motivated” and stated that no such decision has been taken by the present board members.
"The reports about the sale of TTD lands are all politically motivated. The actual decision was taken by the earlier board and the state government in 2014-2019. They had decided that small pieces of TTD land in villages, which are in remote areas, especially properties in TN villages, should be disposed of. This decision was taken as the TTD is not in a position to take care of those properties," Reddy told reporters.
He said that the present TTD board has only reviewed the earlier decision and till now no decision has been taken to sell these properties.
"We have just reviewed the decision and asked the officials if they can not protect these properties. They have been asked to review the properties and submit a report. As of now, we have not decided to sell the properties," he said.
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'Properties unviable'
TTD Chairman Y V Subba Reddy, however, on Sunday had said that the immovable properties which are set to be auctioned included tiny houses and house plots measuring between one cent (approximately 400 sq feet) and 5 cents and farming lands between 10 cents and below one acre.
He had said these properties donated by devotees to the hill shrine several decades ago were non-maintainable and non- revenue generating for TTD as they were "very petty and unviable."
Andhra and Tamil Nadu have 26 and 23 such properties respectively and one land in Rishikesh, he had said adding a total income of about Rs 24 crore was expected to fetch from the auctions.
With inputs from PTI and ANI
