The Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that governs the ancient hill-shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala here will soon put up a third stairway through a dense forest leading to the shrine from a village in neighbouring Kadapa district, a top functionary of the TTD said.
Speaking to reporters on the hills on Saturday, TTD Board chairman YV Subba Reddy said once upon a time there was a footpath through the dense forest connecting Kadapa with Tirumala Hills that TTD now plans to develop.
A decade ago when late YS Rajasekhar Reddy was Chief Minister, a proposal to develop a new footpath from Kadapa came in for discussion but was kept on hold due to various reasons, he said. Now, TTD is contemplating developing that route, he said
Meanwhile, a temple official told PTI that Tirumala Hills now has two ghat roads, one meant for vehicles to go up the hills and the other to descend. Interestingly, the hills has two stairways also — one from Alipiri in Tirupati and the other from Srivari Mettu for devotees to go up the hills by foot.