After Tirupati, ghee controversy hits Telangana’s Bhadradri temple

A controversy is brewing over ghee procurement at the Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam at Bhadrachalam, with the top temple official now facing disciplinary action.

Kothagudem: A controversy is brewing over ghee procurement at the Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam at Bhadrachalam, with the top temple official now facing disciplinary action.

The episode began when the temple’s Executive Officer (EO) L Rama Devi allegedly signed an agreement with a private firm, Rythu Dairy of Jangareddygudem in Andhra Pradesh, for procurement of ghee for preparing laddu prasadam at the temple. The temple was earlier procuring ghee from the Karimnagar Dairy and the EO’s act, according to officials, was against the rules.

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The State government had in August issued orders directing all endowment temples to procure ghee from government-owned Vijaya Dairy. However, the EO signed the agreement with the private dairy, which quoted a lesser price in the tender but did not meet the requisite conditions, official sources said.

Endowments Minister Konda Surekha was said to have expressed anger at the EO for ignoring the government orders. She on Tuesday reportedly directed Endowments Department Principal Secretary Shailaja Ramaiyer to transfer the EO to the Revenue department, from which she was on deputation in the Endowments department. The Minister is also learned to have directed the official to cancel the ghee tender and issue a charge memo to the EO.

Meanwhile, the temple is also caught up in another controversy, revolving around the same official, wherein a long practised tradition of the temple has been broken.

Rama Devi has been accused of ignoring the temple’s tradition while inviting the VIPs to attend religious celebrations. As per the tradition, two chief priests and Sthanacharyulu, who are part of the temple’s Vaidika Committee, have to be informed and they have to accompany the EO when ministers and Chief Minister are invited to attend events like Sri Rama Navami and Mukkoti Ekadasi celebrated at the temple.

But the EO, who went to Hyderabad a couple of days ago to invite Minister Surekha to attend the Mukkoti Ekadasi celebrations on January 10, 2025 and to release the publicity poster of the event, did not comply with the tradition. She neither informed the chief priests about her visit to Hyderabad to invite the Minister nor asked them to accompany her.

This has upset the Vaidika Committee. Temple deputy chief priest, Amaravadhi Muralicharyulu, speaking to Telangana Today, stated that Rama Devi had committed a grave mistake by violating the tradition of informing the chief priests or Sthanacharyulu on extending an invitation to the Minister.

According to the practice, the EO accompanied by the chief priests would first call on the Endowments Commissioner and along with the official, the team would then go to the Endowments Minister and then to the Chief Minister when the invitation is extended. The tradition being followed for nearly a decade was never violated, he said.

“If the chief priests are not available, deputy chief priests and hereditary priests should be taken to Hyderabad to invite the minister. But sadly none of the priests are informed; the EO looked down on the priests like never before and all the priests are feeling disrespected,” Muralicharyulu noted.