Tirupati Balaji’s 160 employees infected; authorities refuse to shut the temple down!

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees the Lord Venkateswara shrine at Tirumala in Tirupati has worked up controversy after the board said that pilgrims can, in any case, visit the place of worship even as the number of representatives having tried positive for the novel coronavirus rose to 160 on Saturday. There were no designs to stop open darshan at the temple, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board Chairperson YV Subba Reddy said. He claimed that there was no proof that fans have been getting contaminated. 

 

Among the individuals who have tested positive as of late, incorporate a senior pontiff of the Sri Pedda Jeeyar Swamy Mutt, TTD Board executive YV Subba Reddy told PTI on Saturday.

 

He said that the 63-year-old soothsayer was to be moved to a corporate emergency clinic in Chennai yet he declined and communicated his desire to take treatment at the mutt itself. 

 

According to a centuries-old tradition, the soothsayer has been honoring a four-month-long ‘Chaturmasya Deeksha’ since the last weekend, so he wanted to stay here and get treatment, Reddy said. 

 

The pontiff’s health status is, be that as it may, stable, the director said. 

 

Since the shrine reopened its doors to devotees on June 11, around 160 TTD staff individuals, including 16 ‘archakas’ (clerics) were contaminated by the infection up until this point, he said. Reddy had said on Thursday that 14 “archakas” (aide clerics), 16 laborers in laddu-production kitchens, and 56 from the security workforce were among those who had been infected, Deccan Chronicle revealed. He included that 70 of the tainted had been released of their duties for now and the rest were experiencing treatment. All things considered, the devotees can even now visit the hallowed place, he included. Not more than 12,000 enthusiasts will be permitted to enter the sanctuary day by day, he said. 

 

As indicated by a report in ABP News, other than the clerics or priests, 16 specialsts in laddu-production kitchens and 56 security faculty every one of whom are probably going to have come in immediate or roundabout contact of individuals coming in for darshanam (praying) have additionally tried positive for the infection. 

 

Prior, Reddy had been cited as saying that there are no designs to stop open darshan on the grounds since there is no proof of devotees testing positive for coronavirus. 

 

“We have no arrangement to close the Tirumala temple. Senior priests won’t be put on the job. Ministers and representatives have been accommodated in separate places,” Reddy stated, including a different area for preparing the food for the workers will be set up. 

 

In the interim, the sanctuary organization has faced severe backlash for its choice to stay open. As of late, an honorary cleric of the sanctuary has addressed via web-based networking media, the sanctuary board’s choice to stay open in spite of the flare-up. 

 

On Thursday, the honorary chief priest, Ramana Dikshitulu, communicated worry about the positive cases and spoke to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy to stop the darshan. In any case, YV Subba Reddy said Dikshitulu ought to have raised his interests before the board as opposed to tweeting about them. 

@ysjagan 15 out of 50 archakas carona +ve quarantined. Still 25 results awaited. TTD EO and AEO refuse to stop darshans. Obediently following anti hereditary archaka and anti brahmin policy of TDP and CBN. Disaster if this continues. Please take action.

— Ramana Dikshitulu (@DrDikshitulu) July 16, 2020

Ramana Dikshitulu was expelled as head priest of the shrine in 2018 after he surpassed the age for retirement. He had additionally claimed the TTD was involved in shady financial behavior.

 

Mr. Reddy reinstated him as the honorary chief priest- to serve the shrine as a counselor – after his YSR Congress Party ascended to power in May 2019. 

Comparative perspectives have been circulated on Twitter where numerous individuals looked at the circumstances at the Tirupati temple and compared it with the Tablighi Jamaat case in Delhi. Individuals have likewise scrutinized the absence of backlash or criticism over the sanctuary not being wary about an exceptionally infectious malady. Some have additionally requested that the government or the authorities shut the sanctuary so as to curb the transmission of the novel coronavirus.

 

#Tirupati

140 employees test positive. Temple still open. No contact tracing. No TV #Markaz debate. Nothing.#Covid_19 #coronavirus #IndiaFightsCorona #Indian @AMISHDEVGAN @DChaurasia2312 @sudhirchaudhary @RubikaLiyaquat @anjanaomkashyap @rahulkanwal @RShivshankar @navikakumar

— Prateek Dwivedi (@prateekdwivedi0) July 18, 2020

 

In March, a large number of Tablighi Jamaat individuals had been removed from its Markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin, where they had assembled for a religious gathering, and isolated as the zone turned into a significant hotspot after various individuals were found positive for coronavirus after being tested. 

 

As indicated by a BBC report, individuals and laborers had accumulated for the congregation in February however a portion of the key occasions was held toward the beginning of March. As per the coordinators, numerous individuals from the Jamaat were stuck at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid or Nizamuddin Masjid Markaz (central station of the Jamaat) because of the unexpected lockdown reported on 24 March. 

On 31 March, the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch had held up an FIR against seven individuals, including Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, on a grievance by Station House Officer Nizamuddin for holding the religious gathering disregarding the government order against huge get-togethers and for not following social distancing norms to contain the spread of coronavirus. 

 

In the interim, Andhra Pradesh’s coronavirus count recorded another single-day high on Saturday. A new 3,963 COVID-19 cases pushed the general count in state to 44,609 while 52 patients succumbed to the illness, the highest-ever count recorded in a day up until this point. The state presently has 22,260 active coronavirus cases with a sum of 21,763 coronavirus patients having recovered. The infection has slain 586 individuals in the state. 

 

Individuals can keep on visiting the popular Tirumala Tirupati Balaji temple, the high ranking representative of the sanctuary’s board has said in the midst of contention over priests and workers getting contaminated with the profoundly infectious coronavirus. The sanctuary’s board chose to re-open it on June 11, in accordance with the central government’s “Unlock 0.1” plans to ease the nation out of the pandemic in stages. 

 

The Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple opened its doors to devotees on June 11 in the wake of being closed for more than two months because of a lockdown across the country forced to restrain the spread of the coronavirus. India on Friday crossed the 10-lakh cases mark, enlisting an unequaled high development of 34,956 new coronavirus cases and 687 passings, as indicated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The death toll currently stands at 25,602.