Hyderabad, February 08: Just days after the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams had decided to request the state government to entrust maintenance of the Lord Venkateswara on Tirumala and other temples under it to the Archaeological Survey of India, officials of the Department of Archaeology & Museums joined issue with the TTD, saying that it is the DAM which should be the competent authority to protect the TTD temples and certainly not the ASI.
At a press conference organised by the Temples Protection Movement here today, DAM director P Chenna Reddy said that it was incorrect to say that ASI was the competent authority to protect TTD’s temples. He proclaimed that as per the amendment to the Archaeology Survey of India Act, 2010, the director of DAM is the nodal officer who is empowered to protect all the monuments in the state.
“But reports in the media said that ASI is the competent authority, which is wrong,” Chenna Reddy said.
TPM convener MV Soundararajan welcomed the TTD’s move to declare TTD’s temples as protected monuments. He said the decision would help in preserving important temples for generations to come.
“People have an apprehension that once these temples are declared as protected monuments, the TTD will lose its hold and the ASI will become the superior authority. But this is not true. ASI or any other authorised department’s role will be restricted to protecting the structural remains of the monument but they will certainly not have any say in the financial affairs, rituals and prayers performed in the temple,” Soundararajan said.
Referring to the controversy over Swarnamayam project, the pet project of former TTD chairman DK Audikesavulu Naidu, the Specified Authority has not only decided to stop the project but also thought it fit to recommend that the temples be notified under Act 24 of 1958 so as to protect them in line with the direction in the High Court judgment.
The decision to declare TTD’s temples as protected monuments will prohibit any construction around any of them by declaring a certain radius around a temple as prohibited area. The TPM convener said that already an expert committee appointed by the state government earlier had identified 100 ancient temples whose Gopurams are in the danger of collapsing.
“Construction activity affected the structural stability of several important temples in the state. In several temples there are invaluable inscriptions depicted inside the temples which are sources of information about the legends associated with those temples or about mythology. If the temples are not protected, there will be a danger that it is not just the temple but also the inscriptions that will be lost,” Soundarajan cautioned.
–Agencies