Andhra Pradesh: Tirumala Ghat Road Closed Due To Landslides, Vehicles Temporarily Stranded

A limited number of devotees are allowed to visit the Ghat Road in view of the repair work that is still underway.

Tirumala Ghat Road Closed Following Landslides, Vehicles Temporarily Stranded (Image:ABP Desam)

Andhra Pradesh: The Tirumala Ghat road has been temporarily closed on Wednesday due to a landslide on Tuesday night. With several devotees stranded on their way to the Venkateswara temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has been making alternative preparations to remove the vehicles and clear the road.     

Officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, engineering department and forest wings arrived at the spot to oversee the removal of the boulders. All vehicles on the road were halted in view of the landslide-induced damage. As an alternative, the vehicles are being allowed in batches through the down ghat road.

TTD chairman YV Subbareddy has directed the authorities to bring IT experts from Delhi to inspect the landslide-prone areas and submit a report as there is a possibility of frequent landslides on Ghat Road due to rains. In this context, IT professionals will arrive in Tirumala this evening to inspect the landslide-prone areas and decide on measures to check further damage. 

Tirumala recently witnessed unprecedented heavy rainfall on November 18 resulting in landslides on multiple places on the ghat roads. Following the repair works, the ghat roads were reopened for vehicular traffic on November 20. 

TTD officials said that the protection wall on the first ghat road was damaged due to landslides at four places, while there were 13 landslides on the second ghat road.

A limited number of devotees are allowed to visit the Ghat Road in view of the repair work that is still underway.

TTD has also urged the devotees, who already have the darshan tickets, to change the dates as the repair work is likely to take place over the next few days. Devotees who have bought the tickets online will be given the opportunity for darshan in the next six months, said TTD officials. 

(With inputs from ABP Desam — It is a Telugu platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from two Telugu states, follow https://telugu.abplive.com/)