The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam trust in Andhra Pradesh has come out saying that it suffered financially during the COVID-19 lockdown. As a result, the trust has run out of cash to pay salaries and to pay daily expenses.
The country’s richest shine, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that manages the Sri Venkateshwara temple had closed its gates for devotees since the 20th of March as a precautionary measure. A report in the Times of India says that the Temple has suffered a loss of income up to Rs. 400 crore even as it spent Rs. 300 crore towards paying salaries and other expenses.
The temple has now been closed for over 50 days. As per the public officials, it is unclear when the temple may open for devotees again. Given the situation in the state and the crowd the shrine attracts, it is unlikely that the temple may open soon. The temple witnesses a crowd of 80,000 to 100,000 every day. During the festive season, the crowd is meant to exceed 150,000 per day.
Cash crunch to pay salaries
Due to the nationwide lockdown in regards to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the number of devotees visiting the temple has drastically come down. In turn, it has led to almost zero offerings in the last two months. The shrine is now dependent on other sources like the interest on fixed deposit to pay salaries of 8,000 permanent resident employees and 15,000 outsourced employees.
The chairman of the Tirumala Tirupati trust spoke to a media agency PTI and said,
“Despite severe financial crunch, TTD would be in a position to manage (full) salary payments to all its permanent staff and outsourced workers, and pensioners for the next two or three months.”
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam is likely to yield a whopping Rs. 1700 crores in interest on the fixed deposits. According to a temple official, it is enough to meet the requirements of the shrine. In the current financial year, the trust estimates its outgo salary and pension to be around Rs. 1400 crore. The monthly expenditure on salary and pension comes close to Rs. 120 crore.
The trust is also involved in many charitable activities including educational institutions and health care facilities which are also taken care of in the lockdown.
Source: India Times
