The TTD is considering providing insurance facilities for all devotees who come to Tirumala for Srivari Darshan. Around 70,000 to 1 lakh devotees come to Srivari Darshan every day. In view of the occasional accidents at Alipiri, Srivari Mettumargam, ghat roads, queue lines and other places, sudden illness, and wild animal attacks on the walking path, it is being planned to provide insurance to devotees.
It is being considered to provide insurance to those who die in accidents, animal attacks, and sudden heart attacks. At present, TTD is paying up to Rs 3 lakh to those who die in accidents in Tirumala. Now, it is being considered to provide insurance to devotees traveling between Alipiri and Tirumala. It seems that the feasibility of insurance companies for large numbers of devotees, the premium they charge, and donor support are being considered.
To make the holy pilgrimage site of Tirumala pollution-free, there are plans to replace diesel buses with fully electric buses between Tirumala and Tirupati. While 50 electric buses are already playing in the gorges, another 350 buses are coming in phases. The center has already allocated 750 electric buses to the state under the Prime Minister’s E-Bus Service Scheme.
Out of this, 50 buses have been allocated for ‘Tirumala-Tirupati’. Apart from these, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu recently wrote a letter to the Union Housing and Urban Development Minister to sanction another 300 buses for Tirumala, and received a positive response from there. It seems that in the first phase, 50 buses provided by the center will be allocated to the Mangalam depot.
Of the 300 buses to come in the future, 150 will be for the Tirumala depot, 50 for the Alipiri depot, 50 for the depot allocated as part of the construction of the Tirupati Intra-Modal Bus Station, and another 50 buses will be operated between Srikalahasti and Tirupati. With this, it is estimated that 5 acres of land will be required for the charging stations and other technical arrangements required for 150 electric buses in Tirumala. Recently, RTC MD Dwaraka Tirumala Rao inspected the area.
