Following the death of six-year-old Lakshitha in a suspected wild animal attack on the night of Friday, August 11 along the Alipiri walkway route leading to the Venkateswara temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board said it has beefed up security in coordination with forest and police departments at all the vulnerable points along the walking route to Tirumala temple.
“The forest department along with trained personnel has already kept two cages ready on a 24X7 basis. About 500 CCTV cameras are planned from Gali Gopuram to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple on the route,” TTD Executive Officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy told the media.
The temple body has appealed to parents who are trekking with children to the hilltop temple to take additional precautions.
Lakshitha, a resident of Pothireddy Palem village, Kovur mandal in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh went missing around 7.30 pm on Friday while trekking to Tirumala along the Alipiri route with her family. Her parents, Dinesh and Sasikala, searched for her in vain and alerted the TTD officials. TTD’s vigilance and security personnel along with local police and forest department personnel launched a search operation and found the girl’s body behind the Narasimha Swamy temple on Saturday morning. Forest staff who examined injuries on Lakshitha’s body said she might have succumbed to injuries inflicted by a wild animal.
Following the incident, the TTD announced that every 100 people walking up the hill to the temple would be accompanied by a security guard. The EO stated, "At this time, there are already 30 TTD security personnel and 10 forest guards deployed [along the route]. We will enhance the personnel strength. TTD will initiate more measures after receiving a report from the forest department officials.”
Earlier on June 21, a three-year-old boy had escaped an attack by a leopard on the way to the temple. Following that incident, TTD had appealed to parents to take precautions while trekking with children.
Meanwhile, TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakara Reddy reviewed the situation that led to the attack on Lakshitha and also visited the spot where her body was found. He said that there would be no compromise in safeguarding devotees visiting Tirumala, and that TTD would not hesitate to undertake any expenses if the forest, police and TTD officials come up with additional safety proposals.
He added that in view of wildlife protection initiatives, the number of wild animals was also on the rise, and that the focus of TTD was to safeguard the lives of pilgrims climbing to the temple on foot.
He also assured Lakshitha’s family that TTD would extend them support and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh — Rs 5 lakh from TTD and another Rs 5 lakh from the forest department — to the bereaved family.