"Recommendations to TTD on Unions, Salaries, Blackmailing, Assets, Acharyas, Volunteer Brigade, Activities, Facilities and Hospitals"

 From: Global Hindu Heritage Foundation,  14726 Harmony Lane, Frisco TX 75035

SaveTemples.org

Honorable Ch.Muthyam Reddy, MLA, Member, Board of Trustees, TTD

Tirupati, AP,India

"Fromthe time Muslims started arriving, around 632 AD, the history of India becomesa long, monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, and destructions. It is as usual, in the ‘name of a holy war' of their faith, of their sole God, that the barbarians have destroyed civilizations, wiped out entire races."   (Alain Danielou in his book, History of India) 

During the past few centuries the most belligerent, the most aggressive, the most rapacious, the most power-drunk section of humanity has been precisely, theChristian Western world. During these centuries western Christendom had invadedall other continents; its armies followed by priests and merchants havesubjugated, robbed or pillaged most of the non-Christians. Native Americans,African, Australian, Asiatic populations have been subjugated to this peculiarbrand of Christian "love" which has generally manifested itself inpitiless destruction, enslavement, coercion, destruction of the culturalvalues, institutions, the way of life of the victims and the spread ofalcoholism, venereal disease, commercial cynicism and the like. PitrimSorokin (1889-1968), Harvard University Sociologist

           The question is do we have to go through another cycle of destruction,defacing and disfiguring of the Hindu Temples by the state governments in Indiain 21st Century?

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation isvery much concerned about a number of issues pertaining to the employee Unions,the benefits of the employees, the employees’ indiscipline, training ofvolunteers, allocation of housing sites, and a number of similar matters.

           NOTE: What we have written is in the best interest of our Hindu religion andHindu Temples. It is not against any one person or any person in the position.Whenever we refer to EO, we are talking in generic term only. It is not tooffend any body. It is only to free Hinduism from the clutches of governmentcontrol and selfish individuals irrespective of their religious background.Please also know that no country in the world has taken over the religiousinstitutions of the majority people. Why only in India?  Can we ever reconcileour consciousness with what is happening to our Temples?

            Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) was formed in USA in 2006 with amission to regain the freedom of managing Hindu Temples by Hindus themselves;to challenge the illegal enactment of Endowment Act; to preserve the integrityof the wishes of the land donors; to prevent the Hindu Temples across the stateto stop the sale /auction of the donated lands; to demand accountability,transparency and verifiability of all assets including the lands and jewelry;to demand that these Temples would not become pawns in the hands ofpoliticians; to insist on the proper role of Acharyas and Swamijis in thefunctioning of the Hindu Temples; to advocate provision of adequate facilities to the devotees; to demand propertreatment of all the devotees by the Temple employees; to prevent the misuse offunds donated by the devotees; to educate the Hindus about the discriminationof the government in managing the Temples; to inform the Hindus as to how the governmentis denying them freedom to a mange their institutions without any interference; to inform Hindus about the use of Hindu and public funds by thegovernment for the promotion of other religions; to take steps to prevent theregularization of encroached Temple lands, and  others.

              Onbehalf of GHHF, we want to address a number of issues either directly orindirectly affecting the functioning of TTD with regard to the followingmatters:

1) TTD EMPLOYEES ATTACKEDDEVOTEES

As you areaware that D. R. Narendra and Narra Munichandra went to Right To InformationOffice on February 24, 2011. Mohan Reddy, the TTD Employees Union Leaders alongwith a number of employees started abusing them, roughed them up and beat themwithout any provocation. They have used very abusive language as they beat themup. It appears that they were very angry with the High Court’s Stay Orderprohibiting the distribution of Housing Sites by TTD. They were asking them towithdraw the case so that they would have their housing sites. If they do notwithdraw, TTD employees threatened them by saying that they are going “to takecare of them.”

It is sad,shocking, outrageous and deplorable to know that this kind of attack took placeon this sacred place. Is this a place for such disgusting behavior,indiscipline and a gang style attack?  Do these employees possess anyethos and morals to respect the sacredness of this place? Do they know wherethey are working? Do they believe in Lord Venkateshwara? Do they believe inHindu Gods? Are they Hindus? Are they practicing Hindus, mafia, atheist,Christians, Muslims, or Marxists who may have infiltrated TTD to defame it,loot it, abuse it and tarnish it’s image?

OUR REQUEST:

         a)    Did TTD investigate the incident and identified theemployees who participated in the attack against Narendra and Munichandra. Did TTDtake any appropriate action against the culprits, such as, suspension,imposition of fines, imprisonment and/or dismissal fo the employee?

         b)    Please know that failure to investigate and take appropriateaction by TTD would encourage them to continue to harass the devotees, socialactivists, benefactors, donors and well wishers of the Temple. They willcontinue to do the same thing knowing that TTD cannot or will not take anyaction against them.  To prevent this climate of attacking and ignoringthe directives of TTD, your office and Board should take immediate stepsagainst the attackers.

           c)    Failure to investigate and take appropriate action by TTDwill be considered as an organization that has no guts, no courage, noguidelines, no moral authority, and no legal authority. TTD will be consideredas an ineffective organization yielding to the heavy handedness of theemployees. 

         d)    Does TTD have the authority to take appropriate action ornot against these abusers? If it has the authority, why it is taking this longto take appropriate action against the attackers.

2) UNIONS

No Hindu Templeshould allow the unionization of its employees. They need to be told that it isthe donor’s money that sustains their livelihood. It is not a commercial,industrial and government operation to allow unionization of the employees.They are working at the most sacred place on the planet earth. They are at themercy of the devotee’s faith who give donations to the Lord. Working at TTDshould be considered a rare privilege and good karma in this life. Any misuseof their responsibility to serve the Lord is against the tenets of Hindu ethos.

a)       TTD should ban the unionization forthwith.  Continuation of their employment should bebased on their performance and input by devotees about their performance.

b)        TTD should develop ascheme to impart and socialize the service-oriented mentality based on ourscriptures and the consequences thereof.

c)       c) TTD should find out how many of the employees are Hinds,Christians, Muslims, Atheists, or Marxists; whether they believe in Hindu Godsor they are there only to exploit and defame the centuries old Balaji Temple?

3) BLACKMIAILING

          GHHF and other organizations have been looking at the circumstances that havecreated the unions and their unchecked power over the TTD and similar HinduTemples. It is a known fact that the state government appoints ExecutiveOfficer (EO) and Board members for a period of two years. These are the peoplein many cases with no experience in the management of these Temples. The Boardmembers are totally partisan politicians who have no interest in serving the Templeand have every selfish interest in pleasing the Chief Minister (whether he beChristian or Muslim) and making money through schemes such as ticket scams. Ithas become on the job training for many appointees. By the time they understandthe workings of TTD, they are replaced with another set of Officer and Boardmembers.

               Knowingfully well that the EO and Board members will be there for only two years, theUNIONS take advantage by blackmailing them, demanding unreasonable salaryincreases, benefits and compensations. The Union threatens them with theirperennial, powerful weapon called STRIKE if TTD does not meet their demands.Fresh on the job, no EO would like to see the employees go on strike;consequently he will yield to the demands of employees. The scale is alwaystilted toward weight of UNIONS year after year with no end in sight and with nofixed salary scales.

         a)    What plans do you have to counter the blackmail menace? Whatwould be your recommendations to the government as to how the salary issues behandled?

          b)    What is the role of the devotees and activist organizationsin setting the salary scales and other benefits?

4) SALARIES AND BENEFITS

           In addition to the salaries the employees receive along with annual increases, theyare paid health benefits for the family, education expenses for the children evenif they go to private schools), marriage expenses of the children, and expensesfor their clothes, shoes, glasses etc.

           QUESTIONS:

       a)    How comparable are the salaries and benefits of the TTDemployees with other government officials? Do you have any information on thismatter?

        b)    Can you also provide us with all the benefits the TTDemployees receive for the perusal of the devotees?

5) ASSETS

Many devotees know that TTD hasproperties spanning across different states. Hence, we request the following:

        a)    A comprehensive list of Temple assets including lands, realestate property, jewelry,  encroachedlands, and pending cases in the courts be made available every year forthe review by the devotees. Immediate steps should be taken to vacate landsoccupied by employees or third parties.

        b)    Houses built by the employees on Temple property shouldbe recovered. These houses may be rented to the eligible employees atmarket value.

        c)    Action must be taken against the employees who build orattempt to build houses in spite of the court order prohibiting them.

6) ACHARYAS, SWAMIJIS, & PEETHADHIPATIS

The Gurus, Acharyas, Swamijis andPeethadhipatis of various Ashrams and Mattas are essence of Hinduism. They arethe upholders of dharmic way of life instilling spirituality and guiding theirdevotees to participate in selfless service to the community.        

a)    TTD invited the Acharyas to Dharmic Sadassu to be held in Tirupatithree times and cancelled all three times. As an Executive Officer, can youexplain the circumstances under which you cancelled the Acharya Sabha meetings?What kind of political pressure was put on TTD to cancel it? The EO and theBoard should be concerned with the propagation and preservation of Hinduismrather than buckling under pressure. AS Hindus EO and Board members shouldstand up for righteousness not unrighteousness. You all should not be pawns inthe hands of Hindu-biters.

        b)    Is there a hatred toward our spiritual leaders to the extentthat you do not even invite them to inaugurate major festivals, to start a newproject, to conduct Bhumi Pujas, inaugurate religious buildings etc. Thecontempt for Hinduism and its spiritual leaders is shocking and mindboggling.TTD is inviting all kind of unscrupulous politicians including Christians andtreat them with full religious protocol accorded only to spiritually elevated souls.It is a shame that being Hindus, EOs and Board members are participating in theadulteration of sacredness of the Temples and mitigating the importance ofHindu religion.

        c)    Why do these Officials allow the government to impose non-religiousguidelines on the most scared place? Can’t these Officials act as Hindus andchallenge the government interference? If Hindus in these positions cannot takea stand against the irreligious policies, who will do it?  Do any of themrealize that they are sowing the seeds of destruction of their religion andtheir Hindu Temples?

        d)    Is there any reason why our religious leaders are notconsulted, invited, and honored on a regular basis?  

7) VOLUNTEER BRIGADE

There will be thousands and thousandsof bhaktas across the globe, who would be delighted to do volunteer services atTTD and other Temples. This would be an enormous savings to the Templestreasury. Further more they will do their job with full faith with no expectations.They will be looking forward to this rare privilege to serve their beloved Godsand Goddesses. Many Ashrams across India perform their functions and activitieswith volunteers expecting no salaries.

        a)    TTD should initiate a Volunteer Brigade, invite them andtrain them so that they can be placed in different departments. In fact youshould have a continuous flow of these brigade members trained to take up theseva as and when needed.

        b)    TTD should place a minimum number of these Brigade membersin different departments so that they can take over the responsibilities whenneeded. They will also serve as a check for any corrupt practices andinefficiency.

        c)    Whenever the Union threatens to strike, TTD authority shoulddeploy the Volunteer brigade immediately with minimum disruption. With thisforce behind him, the EO’s hands will be strengthened and he would not be atarget of blackmail if he knows that he has the back up to replace the strikingemployees.

8) Hospitals

           TTD is donating large sums of money to four hospitals that serve the greater Tirupatimetropolitan area such as SVIMS, SVRR Government Hospital, BIRRD Hospital, andTTD Central Hospital.  TTD appears to have no control over the use of thesefunds. These funds are not designated for any specific task. Consequently, these funds are used for general purpose.

           First of all, the hospitals are not religious organizations. But for servingthe public, we should not be too much concerned or critical about donatingthese funds. However, it would be prudent to donate these funds for specificpurposes such as latest equipment for testing purposes.

           OUR CONCERN:  GHHF, Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samiti and TirumalaTirupati Samrakshana Samithi came to know through our own friends and familymembers, whenever a patient due to accident goes to one these for hospitals fortreatment, they are invariably asked to go to the nearby Christian Hospital. These Hindu patients are charged more money than the Christian patients and on top of it these patients unwillingly become victims of proselytization about their God.

        a)    TTD should look into donating to one hospital to make it a full pledged hospital with all the required latest equipment so that no patient will be turned away because of inadequate facilities. TTD should not be a party to push Hindu patients to the claws of Christians.

       b)    TTD should investigate as to the needs of the latest equipment with nearby Christian Hospital and equip one of the hospitals with all the facilities.

        c)    TTD should appoint a committee to find out how many patients were turned away from these four hospitals and the reasons for their referral.

9)Vakula Mata Temple

               TTDshould take up to rebuild Vakula Mata Temple on the original site with all theamenities for the pilgrims. Vakula Mata is the mother who provided means forLord Balaji and took care of His needs. It is time we honor her, recognize herand worship for her role in setting up Balaji Temple in Kaliyuga.

10)Skyway Interlink Railway

               Itis high time to look at the convenience of the devotees and establish SkywayInterlink Railway connecting Tiruchunur, Vakula Mata Temple, Govinda RajulaTemple, Kapila Teerdham and Alipiri. This kind of system will take the devoteesfrom one place to another in few minutes instead of going through traffic inthe city and also seeing all kinds of non-sacred places in the city.

11)Dharma Sadassu

               Asyou know TTD used to conduct Dharma Sadassu inviting all the religious leaders,Peetadhipatis and Swamiji and have a conference to discuss various aspects ofSanatana Dharma. These kind conventions have been discontinued because of theTop brass intervention for New Delhi.

a)    Can TTD explain why Dharma Sadassu has been discontinued? Whowas behind the cancellation? Is it so wrong to have Dharma Sadassu conducted byTTD, which is the most sacred and religious place on the planet earth forHindus.

12)Politicians and Sadhus

               Itis very hard to read that whenever the most religious activity takes place atTTD, only politicians are invited to either ground-breaking ceremony,Rathotsavam, or opening ceremonies of various activities. Religious leaders arethe most appropriate persons who should be undertaking those activities.

a)    Can TTD explain why the politicians are invited to thesereligious functions?

b)    Is there any body in the Board who has any level of knowledgeon Hinduism? Is there any body that can talk about Hinduism?

c)    If some body asks these Board members about Hinduism, do youthink if any body can talk about or answer any queries of the devotees.

13)Sant Ravidass Project

               This project should concentrate onvisiting the Dalit communities, talk about the message of Sant Ravidas andstart reconversion efforts by creating pride in their caste system.

               TTDshould give top priority to create Hindu mind set among all the Dalits. TTDsfailure will be a disaster for our religion. Any project can be delayed, postponed indefinitely or scrapped,but this cannot be taken lightly.

               Ifwe loose TTD, we will loose the country, we will loose Hinduism, we will loosethe freedom and we will loose culture that was loaded with moral compass.

14)Dharma Ratha Daana Trust

               Toour knowledge there are only 5-6 Rathas located in Kadapa and Krishna Districtsto propagate Sanatana Dharma. TTD should extend this project to all thedistricts acquiring 4-5 Rathas for each district.  We have to go full force to talk about thevalue of our religion. Responsibility should be given to the local trusts,Temples and people with passion.

15)No New Construction on the hills

               TTDshould stop the new construction on the hills to make sure it is too crowded tohave any sanctity or sacredness left.

16)Walk way to Tirumala

               TTDshould consider widening the walkway for the convenience of the pilgrims. TTDmay even consider having another pathway for returning pilgrims to avoid theheavy traffic.

17)Pranadaata Trust – Ambulances

               TTDshould take up this project and request donors to gift Ambulances  Pranadaata Trust so that they can be used totransport sick people to the hospitals. There will be so many people come forward to donate Ambulances. Request108 ambulances so that TTD can print Lord Venkateswara Picture on it as well asone of the Ashtottaranama on each of the Ambulances.  TTD can even put the name of the donor on theAmbulance if the donor agrees. Many pharmcuetical companies will be happy todonate the medicines for the ambulances.

18)Repeal the Endowment Act

               Werequest you to think as a Hindu, not as affiliated to a political party, andsee what is happening to our religion and our Temples. Government is literallydestroying the very fabric of Hindu culture, insulting the Sadhus, destroyingthe temples, allowing temples to be dilapidated, auctioning thousands of acresfor political appeasement, and robbing the treasury of the Temples.

               Canyou imagine any politician talking about taking over the Mosques and Churches?Did any TTD board members of officers talked about it?

               Pleasehelp restore the freedom for Hindus to manage their own affairs and managetheir own Temples, the way the Christians and Muslims are given the freedom tomanage their religious places.

              Thankyou for time.

Dhanyavad

Prakasarao V.Velagapudi, PhD

President, GHHF