Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams mulls long-term plan to curb fire mishap
Tirumala: In a passive response to the devastating fire that threatened to engulf the Tirupati temple, the management of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), is mulling long-term measures to contain forest fires and preserve the Seshachalam biosphere in ‘future’.
The TTD board meeting under the chairmanship of K. Bapiraju in the temple town of Tirumala on Thursday, discussed the extent of loss on account of the devastating forest fire under both the government reserve forests as well as the TTD reserve forests. They discussed long-term measures to be implemented to prevent such massive infernos in the future as well as measures to preserve the Seshachalam bio-sphere, rich in bio-diversity.
Later, the TTD chairman and the trustees along with TTD EO M.G. Gopal inspected the Kakulakona forest area which was gutted by the forest fire.
Speaking to the media, TTD chairman K. Bapiraju said that out of the vast land in the Seshachalam ranges, TTD forest cover is spread over 6,004 acres. As per the latest reports reaching TTD, nearly 460 hectares of forests turned to ashes in the fire mishap, according to the TTD chairman.
He pointed out that a similar fire took place in 2012 at the forests near the seventh mile. However, with this year’s inferno destroying thousands of hectares of Seshachalam ranges, the TTD is now contemplating a permanent solution to see that such massive fire mishaps do not occur in the future, he added.
Mr.Bapiraju said TTD was contemplating to hold discussions with the Wild life and Forest department officials in terms of allowing TTD to cosntruct ring roads and stretches within the forest cover to avoid such mishaps in the future. TTD EO MG Gopal said TTD is contemplating long term measures in line with national and international standards to protect the ecology of Seshachalam ranges and the township of the world renowned Tirumala hill shrine.
‘We need to develop protection stretch and a buffer area to prevent such forest fire threats in the future’, the EO maintained.
