The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to perform COVID-19 tests without fail on all the devotees bound to the Lord Venkateswara temple, at the Tirumala foothills at Alipiri.
TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal made the announcement after a high-level review meeting here on Monday, in the presence of Chittoor Collector N. Bharat Gupta and TTD Additional Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy.
Random testing
“A minimum of 100 employees discharging duty at various places on the hill town will undergo random testing daily. All the employees have been instructed to work at the same place for a week without shifting their duty areas,” said Mr. Singhal.
He also instructed Joint Executive Officer P. Basant Kumar to make arrangements for additional ventilators at the TTD’s central hospital for the benefit of employees.
Dedicated facility
Mr. Singhal also said that the ‘Srinivasam’ rest house would be handed over to the Chittoor district administration.
“If needed, a decision will be taken at the next review meeting on the need to convert the BIRRD Orthopaedic Hospital into a COVID-19 centre. The ‘Madhavam’ rest house, which has already been made a quarantine centre, will be used for TTD employees and their kin, if needed,” Mr. Singhal added.
TTD Chief Vigilance and Security Officer Gopinath Jatti, Deputy Collector Srinivas, District Medical and Health Officer S. Penchalaiah and TTD Health Officer R.R. Reddy were present in the review meeting.
