Temples sans parking spaces annoy pilgrims

Tirupati: Pilgrims who visit various temples run by TTD face severe problems to park their vehicles nearer to the sites. Due to non-availability of parking spaces, they face inconveniences. It seems that TTD officials are not keen to solve the parking woes of devotees at the temples in the town despite steady increase in pilgrims flow.

With no parking facility in any of the three prominent temples including Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple near Railway station, Sri Kodanada Ramaswamy temple near West Police station in the heart of the city and Kapileswara Swamy temple at the foot of Tirumala hills, the pilgrims are forced to park their vehicles on the road side causing inconvenience to the locals commuters. 

The steady increase of vehicles in the city coupled with the swell in the flow of pilgrims added more to the parking problem. It is needless to say that the residents on the four Mada streets around the temple bearing the brunt of the problem while the  pilgrim also face hardship often with the police not allowing parking beside the roads. 

Heated altercation between the residents and pilgrims is a common on these roads. While the traffic police often impose penalties on the pilgrims or ask them to take away the vehicles.  The parking problem at Kapileswara Swamy temple is more severe and pilgrims park their vehicles at Nandi Circle itself on the busiest Alipiri road leading to Tirumala.

Social activist Mangati Gopal Reddy says that TTD has been ignoring the parking problem. The commercially driven TTD management gave priority to build complexes on its sites near the temples in the city to lease them on rental basis to get more income. But it is failing to provide adequate parking sites near the temples, he said.  

It demolished its staff quarter on  Prakasam Road and also its office building on the site near the temple in GS Mada Street for construction of commercial complex. TTD  would have acquired some land from Hathiramji Mutt near its site on GS Mada Street near Govindaraja Swamy temple and on the bund of Ramachandragunta, near Kodandarama Swamy temple, for parking of pilgrims vehicles, he explained.

DSP (Traffic) K Sukumari admitted that the problem became severe with the increase in the number of pilgrim vehicles arriving to the temples. About thousand vehicles are coming daily to the temples which have no parking facility forcing the pilgrims park them on the roads near the temples, hindering smooth flow of vehicles, he said.  

``The police department had written to the Corporation authorities to look into burning issue to which they said it would be taken care of in Smart City project which is underway’’ she said hinting that the problem is stay for some more years.

When The Hans India brought this issue to the notice of TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal, he said that TTD would look into the issue. He later at a meeting with senior officials directed concerned to find out a solution for the parking problems plaguing the pilgrims at the local temples.