Hyderabad: The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams has put some restrictions in place to prevent the incidents of wild animals attacking children. According to the TTD officials, pilgrims with children aged below 15 years will be allowed to trek only between 5 am and 2 am. The movement of two-wheelers has also been stopped between 6 pm and 6 am.
The decision was taken after a 6-year-old Sasikala, who was accompanying her parents to the pilgrimage, was attacked and killed by a leopard recently.
The girl and her parents were walking on the Alipiri-Tirumala pedestrian route on Friday afternoon, when a leopard took away the girl. Her body was found the next morning near Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple area.
The TTD officials said that the movement of leopards has increased in and around the temple town. Recently, the big cats were spotted at five places.
Sources informed that TTD chairman Sri B Karunakara Reddy will be holding a meeting with the EO, district collector, SP at others in Tirupati to discuss on the measures to be taken in view of the safety of the pilgrims. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday evening.
The TTD has appealed to the devotees to cooperate and follow the guidelines, keeping in view the larger interests of the devotees till the issue of wild animals is resolved.
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