AP govt to form new trust boards for 463 temples within 2 months

Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh govt is planning to constitute nearly 463 odd temple trust boards very soon. The exercise will see the nomination of over 4,400 members to the new trust boards.While there are 1,516 temples for which trust boards are constituted by the state govt from time to time to efficiently manage the affairs of these sacred places of worship, the TDP-led NDA alliance has so far formed trust boards for around 1,000 temples after forming the govt in 2024. The exercise of constituting trust boards for the remaining 500 odd temples was deferred due to certain complex issues.Ending a two-year-long wait of thousands of aspirants within the NDA alliance, the govt has decided to complete the exercise of constituting the new trust boards at the earliest, duly taking into account various factors such as coalition dharma, poll promises, caste and gender equations, etc.Endowments minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said the NDA govt in the state constituted new trust boards for 956 temples after coming to power in 2024, while the exercise of constituting trust boards for about 560 temples had to be deferred due to court cases and other issues. "Out of the 560 temples, 97 temples were already embroiled in cases. The govt was forced to defer the exercise for some temples as most of the chairmen and board members nominated to the trust boards by the previous YSRCP regime refused to step down and threatened to stall the process by creating legal hurdles. The govt decided to allow those trust boards to complete their requisite tenure, which is why we had to wait for over two years to take up the exercise of constituting new trust boards for those temples," the minister told TOI.Now that the tenure of most of trust boards constituted during the YSRCP regime is coming to an end, the govt has started the exercise to constitute new trust boards for 463 temples across the state, which have been classified into different categories based on the income range. "While there are around 362 temples in the ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh income range for which new trust boards with nearly nine members each will be constituted soon, around 69 temples falling under the income range of ₹25 lakh to ₹1 crore will also get new trust boards. Similarly, 15 temples in the income range of ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore, 14 temples in the income range of ₹5 crore to ₹20 crore, and three temples in the income range of above ₹20 crore will also get new trust boards within a couple of months," the minister added.