An official said the road repair works are likely to take up to three days.
Passengers traveling in a public bus escaped unhurt this morning when a boulder crashed into the top of a hill on the Sub Ghat road leading from Tirupati to Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh. The collision broke the road and blown off the railing.
An official said the alert driver of the Road Transport Corporation had stopped the bus before the landslide site, averting a major accident.
Jawahar Reddy, chief executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, told NDTV, “Not just buses. Many vehicles and people survived what could have been a major accident today.”
The road repair works are likely to take up to three days, due to which devotees have been advised to postpone their journey.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) which controls the hill shrine has said that Tirumala and Tirupati have received 30 years of heavy rains this season. Experts from IIT Delhi have been called to advise on how to keep pilgrims safe at the most visited place of worship in the world.
TTD President YV Subba Reddy along with other members and officials inspected the Ghat Road. He said the repairs would be on a war footing, with IIT experts from Delhi arriving on Wednesday evening to inspect the road along with TTD engineers and vigilance officers.
The Speaker advised the devotees to postpone their journey if possible. He said that Down Ghat Road would handle traffic in both the directions. He said the pilgrims who had booked their darshan tickets and the yatra was postponed due to rain, would be given an option to use the same ticket within six months. However, there is no hindrance in Tirumala Darshan for the pilgrims coming on foot.
Sri Reddy said that the retainer walls and ghat road have been badly affected at four places following a series of landslides at 5.40 am on Wednesday.
He said the road has been damaged at five to six places on the Up Ghat Road and officials have been directed to take all precautionary measures and repair them on a war footing.
,