Days after a vehicle carrying Tirumala devotees plunged into a 30-feet gorge, the TTD officials on Thursday decided to take up measures for smooth and safe journey of the devotees on Tirumala ghat road. A new traffic policy would also be announced soon, they said.
It has been decided to make some modifications at the entry and exit points of the RTC buses plying to the hill shrine. Another check point will be set up near Harini forest land on the second ghat road to check drunken driving. Tirumala JEO KS Sreenivasa Raju inspected various traffic junctions in Tirumala along with TTD CVSO GVG Ashok Kumar and Tirupati Urban SP S V Rajasekhar Babu on Thursday.
Suggesting modifications at the entry and exit points of RTC buses, the JEO instructed the TTD engineering officials to widen the roads running opposite to the RTC bus stand and remove electrical poles giving a safe passage to the vehicles. He also insisted that three speed breakers be laid on Tiruvenkatapatham route to check the overspeeding of vehicles.
It has also been decided to run a mini bus to Narayanagiri Padalu for the convenience of devotees as they are fleeced by the private vehicle owners, he said.
The JEO also asked RTC regional manager Nagasivudu to ensure that buses should ply on the ghat roads with a frequency of 45 minutes.
“In case any bus reaches the destination before the stipulated time actions will be taken against the driver,” he said, adding that S-type hurdles will be erected at steep curves down the ghat road to prevent the plying of buses at higher speed.
Red signals will be placed on the road where construction or renovation works are on.
The TTD management will distribute pamphlets carrying information regarding accommodation, darshan, kalyanakatta, annaprasadam and others in five different languages to devotees at Alipiri. Plans are afoot to set up another information counter behind the RTC bus stand in Tirumala.