Pilgrims hit by Tirupati Bandh

• People in ‘outside’ vehicles bear the brunt
• TTD, police reach out to pilgrims

Tirupati: The two-day ‘city bandh’ called by Samaiky- andhra agitators turned out to be partial on Wednesday, with auto-rickshaws, jeeps and taxis off the roads and TTD-operated buses transporting pilgrims from the railway station. Local transport was hit and pilgrims who had arrived by train from various places could reach Tirumala using buses specially operated by TTD via Alipiri. The Samaikyandhra JAC had given a call for bandh from 9.00 am on Wednesday to 5.00 pm on Thursday in the entire Tirupati city.

Almost all major commercial establishments remain closed from morning to evening, though a few shops opened in the evening. Busy streets like Gandhi Road, TK Street, Bazaar Road, Nethaji Road and Prakasam Road wore a deserted look.

Road blockade

Activists blocked main roads at several places. The Renigunta road was blocked by burning dozens of tyres across the road. Students of Sri Venkateswara University blocked the Tirupati-Chittoor highway by keeping their motorcycles on both sides of the road.

At Telugu Talli statue, the main road connecting the Tirumala Bypass Road and the Renigunta Road was blocked by barricades placed across the road.‘Outside’ vehicles were forced to be parked off the entry points at several places. Vehicles carrying people from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra bore the brunt as the agitators deflated tyres. Several people managed to have darshan of Lord Radha Krishna at ISKCON temple.

TTD, cops reach out to pilgrims

Since all hotels and restaurants remained closed for most part of the day on Wednesday, pilgrims suffered a lot in getting food, packaged water and milk for children. On Wednesday, the TTD arranged 10 buses to transport pilgrims from the railway station to the Alipiri link bus stand, where RTC buses were kept ready to take them to Tirumala Hills.

The TTD also arranged free breakfast and milk both at railway station and Alipiri link bus stand. The TTD’s Joint Executive Officer KS Srinivasa Raju told ‘The Hans India’: “Whatever be the agitation or problem, there should be no difficulties to pilgrims.” Special arrangements would be made on Thursday too, he said.