TIRUPATI: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officer on special duty Dollar Seshadri died of cardiac arrest in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Monday. He was 73.
Seshadri, who joined the TTD in 1978, continued to serve at the Tirumala temple as OSD post his retirement in 2006. He had gone to the port city to attend the Kartika Deepotsavam festivities at RK beach, scheduled for Monday evening. He suffered a massive cardiac arrest around 4 am in the morning, and never woke up.
A familiar face at the Tirumala temple, he served the institution in various capacities and was the only person to get multiple extensions post his retirement. He played a key role in the Andhra Pradesh government’s abolition of the hereditary Archakas-Potu Mirasis systems (hereditary rights of Mirasi Archakas to serve Lord Venkateswara) in 1996 after a prolonged legal battle.
Though he was forced to quit and stay away from the Tirumala temple for a brief while after the gold dollars scam rocked the TTD in 2008, he rejoined the temple after the local court acquitted him in the case and went on to serve the Lord till his last breath despite being troubled by several health related ailments.
He used to serve as the guide for VVIPs during their visits to the temple. Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu expressed grief over the sudden demise of one of the hill town’s most popular faces.
TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy expressed deep anguish, and called it “an irreparable loss to the TTD”. “Dollar Seshadri Swamy rendered invaluable service to the Tirumala temple after his retirement and till his last breath. I express my heartfelt condolences to his family. TTD is making all arrangements to shift his mortal remains to Tirupati where his final rites will be performed with appropriate honours,” he said.
