The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Women barbers: TTD yet to decide

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Women barbers: TTD yet to decide

Staff Reporter

TTD still in the process of eliciting the opinion of all sections

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board has not spiked the proposal to recruit women barbers.

The TTD Chairman, T. Subbarami Reddy, clarified on Sunday that they had kept the decision in abeyance due to opposition from pundits on `agama sastra'. ``We don't want to hurt the sentiments of anyone. It's true that three months ago the trust board approved a proposal to appoint women barbers. Now, we have kept it in abeyance to elicit the opinion from all sections,'' Dr. Subbarami Reddy told reporters here.

Dr. Reddy said that the TTD would examine the pros and cons of the proposal before arriving at a final decision.

On the construction of the 1,000-pillar mandapam at Tirumala, he said they were examining the issue. They had not taken any decision yet on the report submitted by the former TTD Executive Officer, P.V.R.K. Prasad. He said that to extend cool comfort to devotees, the TTD would complete the work on air-conditioning the entire Vaikuntham queue complex in three months. They had already received donors for AC, fans and cold water, he said.

On shortage of accommodation at Tirumala, he said of 50,000 pilgrims visit daily while the TTD had provision for accommodating only 30,000. "We are trying to provide decent accommodation for another 20,000 in a year,'' he said.

Dr. Reddy said the TTD had allotted Rs.17 crores for each district in the State for spreading moral education and strengthening the value system. The Ramakrishna Mission was also being involved to create spiritual education among students.

He said the TTD would construct one kalyanamandapam each at Anakapalle rural and urban, Gajuwaka and Visakhapatnam. A proposal for setting up a degree college here would also be considered.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh