Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the Endowments Department have agreed to increase the contribution from the Common Good Fund (CGF) to the Endowments Department from the existing five per cent to nine per cent towards strengthening temple infrastructure and increasing priest welfare across the State.

This decision was taken during a high-level meeting held at Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala on Saturday.

The meeting was convened following the directions of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who wanted certain issues that had come to the fore in recent times to be resolved. Senior officials discussed at length the facilities that need to be improved across temples in the state, including Tirumala, and addressed pending matters between the Endowments department and the TTD.

The meeting was attended by Endowments Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, TTD Chairman BR Naidu, TTD Executive Officer J Syamala Rao, Endowments Secretary V Vinay Chand, TTD Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary, JEO V Veerabrahmam, and other officials from TTD and the Endowments Department. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Minister Anam stated that under the Endowments Act, there were provisions requiring the TTD to contribute up to nine per cent of its funds to the Common Good Fund. Until now, this contribution has been only five per cent. The board has decided to increase it in line with the provision.

Anam explained that the state government, in keeping with its manifesto promise, wanted to provide financial support to unemployed priests across the State. As many as 590 unemployed Vedic scholars had been identified, and the government had decided to provide them with a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000, he said.

On temple renovation, he said that Rs 147 crore had previously been sanctioned from the Srivani Trust funds for the reconstruction of temples across the state. However, that amount has remained unused. An additional Rs 11 crore was due to be released from the same trust. The board and officials discussed these pending amounts and agreed to take appropriate decisions soon.