TTD board’s third ghat road proposal awaits environment clearance

TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board's resolution to lay a third ghat road to the hill town of Tirumala from Kukkaladoddi in Kadapa district is awaiting clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Some 95 per cent of the route falls under national park area and only 5 per cent of land under TTD's purview.

The second ghat road leading to Tirumala hills was damaged in the recent rains and traffic along the two ghat roads were badly affected. Hence, the TTD trust board, keeping in view the safety of visiting devotees and the troubles being faced on the ghat roads during heavy rains, decided to build an alternative road to Tirumala.

In this context, the trust board under the chairmanship of YV Subba Reddy passed a resolution to lay a third ghat road via Annamayya Marg from Kukkaladoddi side.

The existing stretch of the road passing through the Seshachalam biosphere from Kukkaladoddi is a distance of about 20km to Tirumala. If the third ghat road from this point is laid, it may reduce the travel distance by 40km for the devotees coming to Tirumala via the Kadapa side. They would thus no longer need to reach Alipiri in Tirupati to head for the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara.   

However, as 95 per cent of the proposed route via Annamaya Marg falls under Seshachalam biosphere and comes under the national park, the TTD board requires a lot of clearances from the central ministry. The ministry is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the legislation to mitigate and control impacts on the environment, to turn the third ghat road plan a reality.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, TTD DFO Srinivasulu Reddy said a lot of environmental clearances have to be obtained from the central ministry, the central and state pollution control boards, the national board of wildlife or the state wildlife advisory boards and other enforcement agencies for environmental regulations.  

“Also, this zone falls under the tiger corridor though we have no tigers here. So we must also approach the National Tiger Conservation department for clearances,” he explained.

According to sources, the TTD engineering wing has approached the principal chief conservator of forests, AP, to obtain permission for a differential GPS (Digital GPS) survey to arrive at the entire length, width, and breadth of the proposed ghat road, the extent of hectares required to be acquired etc. After getting the DGPS survey reports, a proposal would be submitted for the necessary clearances.