Chandrababu Naidu announces insurance cover for every TTD devotee

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said TTD will insure every devotee in partnership with LIC, offering Rs 2 lakh in case of death. He also announced plans for temples, electric buses, integrated hospitals, a skywalk and sustainable infrastructure in Tirupati

Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to insure every devotee in partnership with LIC and offer Rs 2 lakh in the event of death during a visit to the temple.

Naidu held a review meeting with TTD officials and later told a press conference here that the temple body had decided to extend Aadhaar-based online insurance to devotees.

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“TTD has decided to offer insurance to every devotee in partnership with LIC. Rs 2 lakh will be extended through this insurance in the event of death,” he said.

Reflecting on the SV Museum, which he inaugurated earlier in the day, Naidu said TCS Trust had established it at a cost of Rs 104 crore, adding that it had been decided that the same trust would run it for the next five years.

The CM noted that a healing experience centre had been set up under the name ‘Durlabh Darshan’ at Vaikuntam Complex-1, which would showcase the history of the temple and the grandeur of the deity.

For devotees visiting the shrine, Naidu said Reliance Foundation had donated 25 electric buses, while another seven had been provided by Bharat Biotech. He flagged off the buses at Narayanagiri Circle.

Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has handed over the electric buses and a dedicated electric vehicle charging station to TTD.

The donation is aimed at strengthening the trust’s efforts to provide cleaner and more sustainable means of transport to pilgrims visiting Tirumala, a release from the foundation said.

The contribution fulfils a commitment made by Anant Ambani, executive director of RIL, during his visit to Tirumala in June 2026, it said.

“Millions of devotees visit the sacred hills of Tirumala each year for the darshan of Lord Venkateswara. Supporting their journey is both a privilege and a responsibility,” Anant said in the release.

Naidu said the government aims to build 5,000 temples through the Srivani Trust. He said 65 temples in the southern state are affiliated with TTD.

“We are thinking of setting up Srivari (deity) temples across the world where cities host high numbers of Hindus. Likewise, we will also set up Srivari temples across the state,” he said.

Naidu said requests had also been made to build Srivari temples in Mauritius and New Zealand, as well as in other places in India.

The CM said Tirumala, with a history of 2,300 years, should emerge as the top temple in the world.

According to the CM, a corpus of Rs 3,165 crore is available with the Annadanam Trust, which offers free food to devotees. Naidu promised to further improve Anna Prasadam (free food) for devotees.

Similarly, he said hospitals linked to the temple body and those in Tirupati would be integrated, and doctors would be given an opportunity to serve as ‘Srivari Sevakulu’ (deity’s volunteers), among other initiatives.

Further, Naidu said there was a proposal to build a skywalk from Tirupati Railway Station to the bus station. This project would be taken up with the Centre’s cooperation, he said.

He said the government was also planning to build a multi-storey parking facility on the 50 acres of land it had recently acquired.

The CM further said housing plots would be given to 3,200 employees at a cost of Rs 230 crore.

Delving into roads in the temple town, Naidu said measures would be initiated to connect all the highways in Tirupati.

He exhorted officials to ensure that massive economic activity took place with Tirupati as the hub and that the temple town transformed into a services hub with the influx of devotees.

Underlining that Tirupati should emerge as a wedding destination, Naidu called for all activities in the temple town to adhere to the Net Zero concept, utilising solar, wind and battery storage sources of power.

The CM directed officials to install solar panels on all TTD buildings, noting that the temple body consumes 10 crore units of power.