TIRUMALA: There has been a significant decline in the number of pilgrims trekking to Tirumala along Alipiri and Srinivasa Mangapuram walkways for the ongoing annual Brahmotsavams, even as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the forest department intensified efforts to capture more leopards moving along the pathway and the ghat roads. It may be recalled that a total of six leopards were captured in a span of three months, since a six-year-old boy was attacked by a wild cat while walking along the Alipiri footpath with his parents on June 22.
With the latest leopard being caught on the first day of the annual fete, the fear of wild animal attack has increased even more among the devotees. The pilgrims visiting the hill shrine via the pedestrian route have come down by more than half when compared to previous years.
The decision by the TTD to issue Divya Darshan tokens in Tirupati has brought much-needed relief to the pilgrims as they need not climb 20 km for free darshan any more.
According to the vigilance and security wing of the TTD, the number of devotees who trekked to Tirumala was 9,000 and 8,480 on September 18 and 19 respectively.
The pilgrim footfall further slumped to 6,480 and 6,000 on the respective days of September 20 and 21. “There was a marginal increase in footfall on September 22 owing to the Garuda Vahana Seva,” an officer on duty said.
Pilgrims unhappy with foothpath restrictions
The previous year, the figures stood at a staggering 32,000 on September 18 and decreased to 26,800 on September 19, 24,000 on September 20 and 27,862 on September 21. Restrictions imposed on the movement of pilgrims by the TTD on the pedestrian routes in the wake of the leopard attack, which claimed the life of a six-year-old girl, Lakshita, on August 12, are also reasons for devotees choosing to forgo the pedestrian paths.
Bala Subramanyam, who hails from Kacharavedu in Chittoor district, usually trekked to the hill shrine along with a group of 40 people, including children. However, with the leopard scare looming large, only men in his group decided to trek along the Alipiri footpath.
In the case of Bhanu Bhargavi, a pilgrim from Hyderabad who took the pedestrian route, sent her children with a few elderly people to Tirumala in a vehicle.
Furious over lax security, Bhargavi said, “The authorities failed to provide us with sticks. We were forced to take it ourselves.”
Meanwhile, some inter-state pilgrims were upset with the restrictions imposed along the walkways.
Yeddi Nadiyurappa, a pilgrim from the south of Karnataka, opined, “It has been a family tradition to trek to Tirumala with children. Imposing restrictions in the name of leopards is not fair. The authorities should step up security without restricting pilgrim movement.”
On the other hand, a team of 200 personnel, including officers, have been deployed along the pedestrian routes round-the-clock to regulate the pilgrim flow.
Apart from this, two tranquilliser teams, veterinary staff, and DFO-level range officers have been assisting devotees trekking in groups.
“We are ready to provide gear support to run the forest outposts at Alipiri and Galigopuram as requested by the Forest Department. We are waiting for a comprehensive report to implement permanent measures in view of the wild animal attacks,” said TTD executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy. He further went on to say that the TTD would be creating facilities to store firecrackers and tranquillisers, restrooms, CCTV control hub and others.
TTD chairman B Karunakar Reddy said the Temple Trust was coordinating with the Forest Department to monitor the movement of wildlife and was sharing the video footage captured around Tirumala and Balaji Nagar. “Our first and foremost priority is the safety of pilgrims,” he asserted.