NE NEWS SERVICE
TIRUPATI, JAN 3
A 23-km-stretch of the third ghat road and also a third stairway leading to the Tirumala Hills, the ancient abode of Lord Venkateswara, would be built at the earliest, said a top functionary of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that governs the shrine.
TTD Board Chairman YV Subba Reddy on Sunday directed the engineering section of TTD to prepare a detailed project report and invite tenders for the new road and stairway, a press release from the devasthanams said.
The proposed stairway to be called Annamiah Margam would be useful for the devotees coming on foot from Kadapa district and Hyderabad, the release said.
As per the direction of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the new routes would be developed, said the release quoting Subba Reddy as saying.
Traffic came to a halt at #Tirumala second ghat road due to heavy rush of vehicles of devotees on Sunday. The devotees expressed anger as their vehicles came to standstill for more than an hour.#Tirupati #AndhraPradesh #Traffic pic.twitter.com/3LZxYR0750
— Sudhakar Udumula (@sudhakarudumula) January 2, 2022
Tirumala Hills already has two ghat roads – one to go up the hills and the other down. The hills has two stairways – one from Alipiri in Tirupati from where a millennium ago Saint Sri Ramanuja Charya trekked the hills on his knees and the other stairway from Srivari Mettu located on the western side of the Hills from where Krishnadevaraya, an emperor of Vijayanagara Kingdom, had trekked the Hills by foot many a time to offer worship.