Srivani Trust: Fact-finding committee says funds not misused, used for building temples

TIRUPATI: The Tirupati Press Club’s media fact-finding committee submitted its report on the Sri Venkateswara Aalaya Nirmanam Trust (Srivani) on Sunday in which the committee came to the rescue of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) which was blamed for misuse of the funds received from devotees in the name of Srivani scheme.

The Srivani scheme allows devotees a special darshan by paying Rs 10,000 as a donation and Rs 500 for a VIP special darshan. The Srivani Trust was founded on August 28, 2018. However, the scheme was effectively launched on September 23, 2019, after the formulation of guidelines under the stewardship of JEO Dharma Reddy.

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However, in recent months there were several allegations that the TTD was misusing the amounts collected from the devotees and giving contracts to only selected contracts. The TTD issued a white paper on June 22, 2023, and asked the opposition parties in the State to verify its accounts. On July 31, 2023, the TTD allowed the media group to verify the implementation of the Srivani scheme for six months. The committee studied data up to December 31, 2023, and came up with its observations and a few suggestions. They also spoke with the devotees.

Observations

• Receipts were issued for the total amount (Rs 10,500) paid by the devotee
• 10 lakh devotees so far had darshan under Srivani
• Rs 1,085.84 crore deposited in TTD accounts
• Rs 831.16 crore in fixed deposits, Rs 33.57 crore in savings account
• TTD earned an interest of Rs 59.08 crore
• Rs 221.11 crore has been spent on the construction of temples
• Remaining funds are safe with nationalised banks
• So far Rs 464.14 crore has been approved for the construction of 3,635 temples
• 722 works completed and 2,913 are in progress

Suggestions

• TTD must continue with the cap of 1000 tickets per day
• TTD should update devotees about the financial position of the trust more often