Anti-Telangana protesters block road to Tirupati

Tirupati: Thousands of Lord Venkateswara devotees had a tough time today as traffic to the hill shrine came to a halt due to the one-day total strike called by anti-Telangana protesters. A large number of protesters gathered at the foot of the hills at Alipiri at 8 am and blocked the entrance of Ghat Road leading to Tirumala by staging a sit-in with their vehicles, sources in Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which administers the temple, said.

Even two-wheelers of the temple staff working on the hills and local public of Tirumala were not permitted to ply. Thousands of pilgrims, including elderly people and women with their infants, were forced to walk the 10-km stairway, they said.

The temple authority provided free food to hundreds of stranded devotees at different places in Tirupati and on the hills, the sources said. Traffic resumed around 4 pm, with the agitators protesting against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh ending the road block, they added.

It was for second time that the devotees had to suffer due to agitations against the formation of Telangana. On August 13, the state-owned transport corporation buses plying in the sacred hill route stayed off the roads to protest against the formation of Telangana.