Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is once again facing ques-tions over its procurement process, this time involving silk dupattas offered to donors, Veda Aseervachanam participants and VIP visi-tors. The issue surfaced when a proposal to buy over 21,000 dupat-tas came before the Purchase Committee. Before approving it, TTD Trust Board asked the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer to check whether the dupattas already being supplied matched the temple’s prescribed standards for pure silk.

TTD requires these special dupattas to be made entirely from mul-berry silk woven with 20/22 denier yarn. They must carry the words ‘Om Namo Venkatesaya’ in Sanskrit and Telugu, along with traditional temple symbols. Their size, weight and border design are also fixed to maintain uniformity and devotional value.

During the inspection, doubts were raised about the quality of the material supplied under an existing contract. The trust board, led by chairman BR Naidu, sought a detailed inquiry. The vigilance wing then collected samples from a godown in Tirupati as well as from stock kept at Vaibhavotsava Mandapam in Tirumala. Both sets of dupattas were supplied by VRS Export, a firm based in Nagari that has long handled cloth orders for TTD.

These samples were forwarded to the Central Silk Board laborato-ries in Bengaluru and Dharmavaram for scientific testing. The re-ports from both labs confirmed that the material was made of pol-yester in both warp and weft, not the mulberry silk specified in the tender. Officials also found that the required silk hologram — an important feature used to verify genuine silk products — was miss-ing from all the pieces tested. Following the confirmation of irregularities, the trust board di-rected that the matter be referred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for further investigation, citing financial loss and violation of con-tract terms.

Responding to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan said on Wednesday that the ACB had already started probing the matter. He described the alleged scam, valued at around Rs 54 crore, as part of a pattern of issues that had troubled TTD in the past. He mentioned earlier complaints about ghee quality, Parakamani procedures and other temple supplies, and said the pre-sent board and government intended to address such problems openly. According to him, past allegations were often dismissed as rumours, but this time the facts would be brought out clearly. TTD board member Jyothula Nehru also remarked that major vari-ations in shawl quality had been noticed. As a member of the pur-chase committee, he said he had personally seen that shawls bought for temple use were similar to cheaper ones sold in shops below the hill. He said procurement was stopped immediately and the matter would now be placed before the board, which may opt for new ten-ders.