Make Tirupati a destination wedding hub

TIRUPATI: The Secretary of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Srinivas R Katikitala, said that the untapped potential of the Indian wedding industry, which is valued at nearly Rs 1 lakh crore has to be utilised in a right way.

He pointed out that due to inadequate infrastructure and facilities for wedding-related tourism at Tirumala, the region is unable to benefit from this booming sector. He stressed the need to transform Tirupati into a ‘Destination wedding’ centre to harness this opportunity.

Srinivas chaired a review meeting with key stakeholders on Wednesday evening to discuss the ‘Integrated Urban Development of Tirupati’. He assured full technical support from the Centre for the city’s development and urged officials to design plans based on the actual needs of the population. The Secretary stated that instead of outward urban expansion, the focus should be on utilising vacant land within the city to improve services and infrastructure. This, he said, is a more efficient way to serve the growing urban population. Development plans should consider population density and prioritise effective use of existing urban spaces. District Collector Dr S Venkateswar informed the meeting that around 40 per cent of the district’s population resides in urban areas, with the total district population standing at about 25 lakh. Of these, approximately 4.5 lakh people live in Tirupati city alone. He assured that comprehensive development plans for Tirupati will be prepared in coordination with relevant departments, in line with the Secretary’s directions and suggestions.

Joint Collector and TUDA Vice Chairman Shubham Bansal, Corporation Commissioner N Mourya, MoHUA Joint Secretary (AMRUT scheme) Isha Kalia, Technical Advisor Rohit Kakkar, Gudur Sub-Collector Raghavendra Meena, and other officials were present at the meeting.