TIRUMALA: A day after a six-year-old girl was mauled to death by a wild animal, suspected to be a leopard, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to allow pilgrims with children, aged below 15 years, to trek on both the pedestrian routes only between 5 AM and 2 PM. The Srivari Temple Trust Board also announced that the movement of two-wheelers on the Ghat roads will be suspended from 6 PM to 6 AM. The restrictions came into force on Sunday itself.
Stating that the decisions have been taken for the safety of the children, the TTD in a statement said, “We noticed the movement of leopards last (Saturday) night at five places, including three between Alipiri and Galigopuram, at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy (LNS) temple and at the 38th Turning.”
On Sunday morning, a leopard was spotted at down ghat road around 6.30 AM.“As 5 AM to 8 AM is a crucial time, teams of forest officials were asked to be alert. We identified a leopard that had strayed onto the footpath. We honked and burst crackers in a bid to drive it into the forest,” TTD vigilance guard officer (VGO) Bali Reddy explained.
In a related development, Tirupati police constables, deployed at the 7th-mile outpost between Alipiri and Tirumala, were instructed to tie security identification tags on the hand of children and infants.
Details of the parents, including phone numbers, were manually written on the tags. While implementing the tag system, police counselled the parents to take care of their children at all times. They also instructed the children to not leave their parents.
“In case a child gets separated from his parents, the tag and information on it will help officials reunite them,” TTD executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy said and explained that the system is used during Srivari Brahmotsavams in Tirumala. “These are neither digital nor RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags,” he clarified.
Further, the TTD urged the devotees to follow the guidelines issued by the Board till the issue of wild animals is resolved. Meanwhile, TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy is set to hold a high-level meeting on Monday evening with the EO, district Collector and SP in Tirupati to discuss measures that have to be taken for the safety of the pilgrims at both the footpath routes and Ghat roads.
Child rights panel seeks report on leopard attack
AP State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has directed the TTD, forest, police and revenue departments to submit a detailed report regarding the animal attack which claimed the life of a six-year-old girl in Tirumala. It has also sought a report from the TTD on the recent cases of leopard attacks