Getting accommodation has always been a Herculean task for devotees visiting the abode of Lord Venkateswara. Rather than scurrying around for rooms atop Tirumala, staying downhill will soon become the order of the day, with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams planning to develop 2,500 more rooms in Tirupati.
The TTD is hard pressed to provide rooms in view of the limited availability of resources on the hills. Practically, every pilgrim arriving on the ecologically sensitive Tirumala hill is a burden, as his presence will have a direct bearing on the meagre availability of water, electricity, food, sanitation and hygiene.
In summer months, water is pumped up from Kalyani dam downhill and stored atop the hills, a near-impossible task that brings with it an inflated electricity bill.
Fifteen years back, the TTD took a conscious decision to improve accommodation facilities downhill, and built the mammoth pilgrim complex ‘Srinivasam’ opposite the APSRTC central bus station. A deluxe annexe facility ‘Madhavam’ came by its side for the deep-pocketed. Similarly, ‘Vishnu Nivasam’ was built opposite the railway station by razing the erstwhile ‘First Choultry’ building. After tasting success with the above plans, the TTD is now building ‘Padmavathi Nivasam’ at Tiruchanur.
Apart from adding 200 more rooms downhill, the complex will also meet the requirement of pilgrims taking a vow to stay for a night at Tiruchanur, the abode of Goddess Padmavathi.
There is now a plan to double the existing 2,000 rooms with the construction of an additional 2,500 rooms.
Speaking to The Hindu , TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal revealed the ambitious plan to retain most of the devotees downhill by providing them all amenities. The slot-based Special Entry Darshan (₹300) and the newly-launched Slot-based Sarva Darshan (SSD) are aimed at introducing an element of predictability in darshan timings.
“With a firm plan on hand, the devotees can check into their rooms downhill, visit the nearby temples and other places of interest and land up at Tirumala at the designated hour,” explained Mr. Singhal. The TTD believes that the project will take care of accommodation needs for the next 25 to 30 years.
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BOX ITEM No.1
Padmavathi Nivasam nearing completion
Padmavathi Nivasam is the latest in the series of TTD complexes in Tirupati. The eight-storeyed building with a plinth area of 4.26 lakh sq.ft is coming up at Tiruchanur, abutting the Chennai-Bengaluru highway.
The cellar parking lot can accommodate 350 cars and 200 two-wheelers. The first two floors have room allotment counters, restaurants, shops, ATMs, cloak room, dispensary and general toilets. In the third floor, five dormitories are coming up for common pilgrims, each of them with a capacity to accommodate 120 persons. A prayer hall, spiritual library and a ‘mini Kalyana Katta’ (tonsuring centre) are also earmarked. The next five floors will have rooms with attached toilets at the rate of 20 per floor. “Though three towers were initially proposed, we are building only two now, i.e., 200 rooms and expandable to 300. The third tower will be built when demand rises”, says TTD Chief Engineer C. Chandrasekhar Reddy. The seventh and eighth floors will have air-conditioned rooms.
The complex will be the first choice of people arriving on the Chennai, Bengaluru and Vijayawada highways. With people preferring own vehicles to public transport, proximity to city centre is no more a factor. This trend is believed to weigh towards this complex, when compared to Srinivasam or Vishnu Nivasam situated in the city’s ‘congested’ centre.
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BOX ITEM NO.2
How accommodation gained importance?
Earlier, passengers reaching by bus or train used to go up the hills carrying their baggage on head and later scamper around for rooms. While the lucky ones get shelter, the not-so-privileged will have to be content with staying on the roadside. However, not many bothered about having to endure such travails and it was common practice to ‘adjust somewhere’, wake up at dawn and enter the serpentine queue by chanting ‘Govindaa Govinda’.
The demand for amenities rose with the new lifestyle and people now prefer advance booking before embarking on their pilgrimage, rather than getting stuck.
Tirumala is an eco-sensitive village nestling in the biodiversity-rich Seshachalam Hill ranges. The hill town expanded manifold over the years and the TTD had to break its self-imposed ban on construction to meet the rising demand. Understanding the importance of green cover as also the perils of transforming Tirumala into a concrete jungle, the management has, over a decade ago, resorted to building light-weight larger structures to accommodate more pilgrims for a short time, instead of smaller cottages meant for a few.
The successive officials have also maintained the trend, knowing fully well that any more construction could wreak havoc on the fragile ecology.
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BOX ITEM No.3
Roping in states and donors
The modalities for creating 2,500 new dwelling units in Tirupati are still being worked out. The facility is most likely to come in and around Alipiri, the foot of Tirumala hills, for easy commuting and logistical convenience.
The TTD contemplates to rope in various State governments, which have been requesting for land to build cottages for the benefit of visitors from their respective States. It may be noted here that Tirumala already has certain State-specific buildings to accommodate people from there.
This time, the TTD is not inclined to part with land on the hills, but may allot them chunks downhill. Also, the TTD may insist on its engineers handling the design task, to incorporate the larger objective of utilising land resources optimally to accommodate more pilgrims, instead of building large rooms in the buildings, thus making them ‘VIP centric’.
Similarly, donors may also chip in with munificent contribution for the construction of such facilities, who will get ‘in return’ a fixed number of days to stay in a year.
The plan, when set in motion, will tackle accommodation problem on a long term as well as restore the ecological balance of Tirumala.
