Tirupati Temple Trust Says It Suffered ₹400 Crore Losses Due To Lockdown, Unable To Pay Salaries

Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus and the lockdown that followed, the country’s economy has suffered a major hit. Besides daily-wage labourers, the aviation industry, travel and tourism, restaurants, local businesses, etc. have all suffered a huge financial loss which can be hard to recover from anytime soon.

In addition to the list, the world’s richest temple trust, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) which manages the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, claims to have suffered a loss of Rs 400 crore due to the lockdown and are currently unable to pay salaries and meet daily expenses, reports TOI.

TTD authorities claimed that they have already spent Rs 300 crore on salaries, pensions, and other expenses during the lockdown.

They added how they did not want to touch TTD’s eight-tonne of gold reserve and Rs 14,000 crores fixed deposits and are trying to come up with ways to handle the crisis.

Recently, 1300 TTD workers were rendered jobless after a contract between the trust and a manpower supplier expired. Outraged amidst the lockdown, these people took to the streets to protest after TTD refused to renew the contract.

Most of these people worked in the housekeeping, sanitation, and hotel service department.

This is an extremely unfortunate event to have occurred because of the lockdown. We hope that the state authorities are able to help these poor people!

Cover Source: I, II