HC tells TTD to check fleecing of pilgrims

A Division Bench of the High Court, comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankara Narayana, on Tuesday told the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that the court wanted to see some “action” to curb the fleecing of pilgrims on the Seven Hills allegedly by eateries in violation of rules. The Bench commented that it should not be a farce.

The Bench was dealing with a PIL filed by Parihara Sevasamithi through its founder-president Dr. Bharadwaja Chakrapani.

He told the court that while granting the licence to run a restaurant, the TTD imposed the condition that the named items shall alone be sold as per the rates fixed by it. The hotels were charging 500 per cent more, he charged.

During the course of hearing last Tuesday, the Bench had called for the copy of the report of vigilance, which inquired into the working of commercial establishments in Tirumala.

On Tuesday, the TTD submitted the report and it was found that the issue of eateries exploiting the pilgrims was not dealt with in detail.

The Bench granted three weeks time to the TTD to file a counter affidavit with action taken report.

The Bench said the TTD should not be content with collection of fine but see that the pilgrims were not exploited. It wondered what was happening to the vigilance wing of the TTD and asked the TTD to swing into action immediately.

Bauxite mining

The same Bench recorded the undertaking given by the A.P. government that 1,112 hectares of forest land in the Chintapalli area of Visakhapatnam district was not being handed over to the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) immediately for bauxite mining.

The Bench was dealing with a PIL filed by Dr. Shiva Rama Krishna of SAKTI (Search for Action Knowledge Tribal Initiative).

He complained that without identifying and recording the ‘community rights’ of the Tribal groups living there and incorporating in the government records, diversion of forest for mining was permitted. The details of the number of rivers originating from the forest area were placed before the court.