Steps will soon be in place to conserve and harvest every drop of water flowing down the Seshachalam hills.
Taking a cue from the suggestion made by the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his recent visit to the district, the authorities have prepared a broad plan to conserve water ahead of the impending summer.
The ‘Tirupati Development Taskforce’, a body representing various departments formed more than a decade back to make a concerted effort to develop the temple city, met here on Thursday with the TTD Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao in the chair. While talks of developing Tirupati into a smart city and a mega industrial hub rent the air, serious discussion turned out to be on tackling the drinking water crisis and the monsoon vagaries.
Dr. Rao announced that steps had been taken to store water atop the hills to meet the requirements of the visiting pilgrims for the next 70 days.
Any shortfall would be made up by taking water from downhill through pipelines. “63 MLD of water is being drawn every day from Kandaleru reservoir to meet the needs of Tirupati and Tirumala”, he said.
Collector Siddharth Jain indicated steps to turn Tirupati into an educational cum industrial hub so as to provide job opportunities to the youth. He attributed the development of industrial zone in the eastern mandals of Renigunta, Yerpedu, Srikalahasti and Satyavedu to the presence of airport, highway connectivity.
