VIJAYAWADA: Superintending archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India (Amaravati Circle) T Sreelakshmi, who hit the headlines last weekend for sending a letter to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer seeking cooperation for a feasibility study to include Tirumala temples in the protected monuments list, has been transferred to Bengaluru.
Reliable sources told TNIE that Sreelakshmi was summoned to New Delhi on Sunday and informed of her transfer. It is learnt that she is in a state of shock following the disciplinary action taken against her.
To her defence, she had merely followed orders issued to her by the ASI's Director (monuments) Taher to conduct a feasibility study for examining the possibility of including TTD and its temples in Tirumala in the protected monuments list.
Taher's email order issued in March was the result of several RTI queries filed by BKSR Ayyangar, a social activist from Eluru, seeking to know action taken on his representation for inclusion of TTD and its associated temples in Tirumala in the ASI list.
Sreelakshmi's letter to TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal, sent last Saturday, had created a furore in the State with even the State government expressing concern. Sensing the outrage, ASI Director General Usha Sharma had called Singhal the same evening and informed him that the letter was sent without her knowledge and told him to treat the missive as withdrawn.
The proposal to include Srivari temple in the ASI protected monuments list is not new. It was first made in 2011-12 by the then Specified Authority (which was looking after the TTD at the time in the absence of a trust board). However, successive State governments haven't considered it seriously.
The proposal was made following the controversy surrounding the move to gold-plate the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum by Adikesavulu Naidu, who served as TTD chairman before the Specified Authority was constituted.
Earlier, the 1,000-pillar mandapam in the Tirumala temple was dismantled and that also played a part in prompting the Specified Authority to recommend inclusion of the temple in the ASI's protected monuments list.