TIRUMALA: TTD Board of Trustees chairman YV Subba Reddy has requested the Centre to exempt the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) from the burden of GST on the services of Special Protection Force (SPF) from April 1, 2014 to September 30, 2020.
He made the appeal when he met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Tuesday. He informed the minister that it would help the TTD pursue its social, economical and spiritual activities vigorously.
Subba Reddy also sought Centre’s permission for depositing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes contributed by devotees in the temple hundis either with the RBI or other nationalised banks.
He said since the Centre banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 18 in 2016, the TTD has made arrangements for cashless transactions. However, in view of devotee sentiments, the TTD could not stop them from contributing old notes in the Srivari hundi. As a result, nearly 1.8 lakh Rs 1,000 old notes and 6.34 lakh Rs 500 notes have accumulated with the TTD coffers since then.
He said correspondence with the Union Finance Ministry and RBI on conversion of old notes since 2017 has not yielded any favourable response till date. The Chairman said the facilitation of conversion of old notes could embolden the TTD to take up many more religious and service-oriented activities.
He appealed to the Union Finance Minister to respond favourably to the plea to resolve the issue of accumulated banned currency notes at the earliest.