ANANTAPUR: In the wake of a wild beast killing a six-year-old girl Lakshitha walking alone along the Alipiri footpath to Tirumala Temple on Friday night, the TTD has beefed up security at all the vulnerable points along the pathway route.
TTD executive officer A.V. Dharma Reddy held a high-level meeting with the TTD forest, vigilance and security, and police at the Gokulam Conference Hall in Tirumala on Saturday.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Dharma Reddy said the incident is really shocking. He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved parents. He announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakhs for the family of Lakshitha.
The TTD executive officer said the devasthanam will further deliberate on closing the footpath routes at 2 pm or 3 pm. He underlined that to enhance vigil, they are planning to install 500 CCTV cameras from Gali Gopuram to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple.
Footage of CCTV cameras has shown that the victim of the wild beast, Lakshitha, had been alone and quite far away from her parents. However, the executive officer said TTD is committed to taking stringent measures on the footpaths to check such wild beast attacks. He advised parents, who are walking to the abode of Lord Venkateswara along with children, to take additional precautions.
The devasthanam has already been announcing precautionary measures for devotees in the backdrop of the incident on June 21, when a three-year-old boy Kaushik from the Kurnool district had been attacked by a leopard but was saved miraculously.
“Henceforth, only a group of 100 people, along with a security guard, will be allowed to move forward at this vulnerable point. 30 TTD security and 10 forest guards are also patrolling this point. We will enhance the number of personnel now," Dharma Reddy added.
