Tirumala’ Temple has 9259 kg Gold With Various Banks

The temple’s senior official has announced that the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple at Tirumala owns 9,259 kg of gold deposited with several banks and in its treasury. It is said that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), under bank gold deposit schemes, has 5,387 kg of gold with SBI and 1,938 kg of gold with the Indian Overseas Bank.

As per the information from the TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal, Punjab National Bank has returned 1,381 kg of gold on April 20 as the three-year scheme had reached the maturity. Moreover, TTD treasury has 553 mixed gold, comprising small jewellery.

Just hours later the Andhra government ordered an inquiry into the lapses into the release and transportation of 1,381 kg gold in the wake of its seizure by the Election Commission in Tamil Nadu, the TTD EO told that PNB had total responsibility of the gold till delivering it to TTD treasury. The gold was seized in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu on April 17 when it was being brought back from PNB’s branch in Chennai to the TTD treasury in Tirupati.

Also, the Income Tax department asked the TTD to send an official in relevance to the investigations. The TTD official informed the IT that PNB was supposed to deliver the gold at the TTD treasury on April 18. The gold seizure a day before the elections in Tamil Nadu triggered a row with TTD initially denying that the gold belonged to it.

“It is TTD gold when it reaches the treasury. How do we know how much gold the truck was carrying and what was its transportation route,” Singhal defended. On criticism for transportation the gold in the midst of elections, he dismissed this as coincidence. He said the maturity date was known when 1,311 kg gold was deposited with PNB in 2016.

He said TTD had written a letter to PNB on March 27 that gold deposit will be reaching maturity on April 18 and asked it to deliver the gold at treasury along with the interest (70 kg gold).

He said under the gold deposit gold scheme, the banks are paid one per cent commission and 1.5 per cent handling charges which include gold purity testing, transportation, storage and other costs.

Last week, AP Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam demanded an inquiry in the wake of the gold seizure. He asked Special Chief Secretary, Revenue, Manmohan Singh, to find out the lapses, if any, on the part of PNB and TTD and submit a report on or before April 23. The role of the TTD vigilance wing and written instructions issued by the TTD Executive Officer are in cue to be checked by the inquiry office. The officer will also, report on what special care and monitoring the vigilance wing of TTD has to take.