National:  The newly-formed Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) held its first meeting on Monday and passed a resolution requiring non-Hindus employed by the board to either take voluntary retirement or opt for a transfer to other government departments in Andhra Pradesh. Notably, the TTD is an independent government trust that manages Tirumala Venkateswara temple in Tirupati - the world's richest Hindu shrine.

The major decisions taken by the TTD include setting up a panel of experts to suggest an action plan to reduce darshan time at Tirumala’s Lord Venkateswara temple to two-three hours, a ban on making political statements there, procurement of superior quality ghee for laddoo preparation and and transferring non-Hindus.

These key decisions were taken at the meeting of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) under its new chairman B R Naidu. 

During the meeting, the TTD also decided to write to the state government to “take an appropriate decision about non-Hindus working in Tirumala” and according to officials, the TTD wants that employees of non-Hindu faith working in the temple be rehabilitated in other government institutions or be offered VRS. 

The TTD also decided to dispense with the AP Tourism Corporation’s ‘Darshan’ quota of various states after a thorough examination of complaints regarding irregularities in the issue of special entry tickets under this category.

Amid concerns from some of the board members, the TTD also decided to move all its deposits from private banks to nationalised banks.

Moreover, the TTD is likely to float tenders again to procure superior quality of ghee to prepare prasad offerings, including the famous laddus. The development comes after there was a controversy when the ruling TDP-led government raised doubts about the “purity” of the ingredients used in the laddu ‘prasadam’ at the Tirumala Venkateswara temple