Devotees visiting Tirumala can now heave a sigh of relief as the much-feared ‘Tirumala blockade’ call given by the Government Officers-Joint Action Council (GO-JAC) on September 14 and 15, has been postponed indefinitely.
As any inconvenience to Tirumala devotees will have an echo at Hyderabad and further at Delhi, the JAC had actually planned to block all forms of transport in Tirupati during the weekend.
As the APSRTC employees are already on strike, roping in the private transport operators to stay off the road will make the circle complete, as the step will cause maximum trouble to the visitors and thus have a direct bearing on the Government.
The breather comes in the wake of the request made by the private transport operators to the JAC, seeking more time to heed their request.
“They (private operators) are ready to join the agitation wholeheartedly. Since voluntary participation requires fulfilment of certain obligations, they have sought some more time so as to make the blockade total,” the JAC convener and Tirupati Revenue Divisional Officer Y.Ramachandra Reddy told the media on Thursday.
New date
The new date will be announced soon, he observed, adding that the deferment is only to maximize the impact of the blockade, he added.
Several pilgrims who got their darshan and travel plans cancelled in view of the strike hurriedly re-booked their tickets.
Re-booking
“I came to know of the postponement just 30 minutes after I cancelled my train tickets today. Luckily, I got them booked online again”, said V. Madhusudhan, a software professional from Chennai, who has darshan plans at Tirumala on Saturday.
The railway reservation counter became a beehive of activity after the announcement.
