Tirupati, the holy abode of Lord Venkateswara, which is known to be the richest religious shrine in the country, has been recently revealed as the biggest tax-evader in Andhra Pradesh. The temple is stated to receive offerings of approx. Rs 1,000-crore annually. Its management already owes Rs 5 crore to both the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) and the Tirupati Municipal Corporation (TMC), in addition Rs 19-crore tax to the state government for the sale of human hair.

 

Nevertheless, the temple management is ‘not so serious’ about tax evasion and argues that the temple should be granted an exemption since it is a famous religious institute. As per a senior official from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, the TTD is earning income only in the form of offerings made by millions of devotees throughout the world. And all the construction and expansion work at the site is possible only because of that. He further notified that the government bodies have not taken up a single development activity in the past 20 years in Tirupati. 

 

C Bhasker Reddy, TUDA chairman and an ex-officio member of the TTD Trust Board, said that through years, nothing was said since it is a sensitive issue, but now it is seriously affecting the revenues. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has also asked the TTD to pay tax when the latter approached for the exemption. According to the sources, the temple management is stern to get exemption and further intensified the appeal by saying that every government body and every business in the temple town is flourishing due to the temple of Lord Venkateswara, so it must get some exemption.