Yajur mandir hundi matches tirupati June 25, 2011 17:35
PUTTAPARTHI: While the 20-member team scanned the entire two-storied Yajur Mandir for nearly 36 hours, nothing much emerged from the various documents which were found inside the private chambers of Sai Baba on Friday.Sources said the Yajur Mandir resembled the `hundi' of Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala as a massive cash of Rs 11,56,47,049.50 was found along with 98 kgs of gold jewellery and 307 kgs of silver ornaments inside the three-room mandir.While it was for the first time that the powerful Sathya Sai Central Trust members had stepped inside the holy mandir of Baba on the first floor, sources said there was not much grandeur inside. It was constructed in 2001 by L&T. The ground floor has one visitors' hall, followed by a hall, dining hall and a kitchen. It has two separate rooms..
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Woman murdered, made into pieces June 20, 2011 16:07
In a gruesome incident in Tirupati that came to light late, a married woman was killed, made into pieces and kept in a TV box. Following a complaint by the residents of Sivajyothy Nagar in Tirupati that foul smell was emanating from the house of Ms. Sunitha, police broke open the doors of the house and found her dead body in an empty TV box. Neighbors said that Sunitha, after divorcing her husband, left Nellore and started living at Sivajyothy nagar working as a servant maid in some houses. They said that her father-in-law used to frequent her and Friday evening also he visited her. “It seemed there was a verbal clash between them that night,” said the neighbors. “Illegal relationship could have led to this brutal murder,” said neighbors. Police have registered case and are investigating.
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President to visit Tirumala in July 7 June 17, 2011 15:48
President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the new Annadanam complex (Devotees’ dining hall) built on the Tirumala Hills on July 7. The president will arrive at Tirumala in the early hours of July 7 by a special flight and have darshan of the Lord Venkateswara. Soon after that, she will inaugurate the new building, acceding to TTD officials.The new complex, named as Tarigonda Vengamamba Annadana Satram, will accommodate thousands of devotees for the dining purpose. It was built as the present Annadana Satram is unable to meet the growing rush of pilgrims on the Tirumala Hills.
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Train to halt at Mayiladuthurai June 16, 2011 16:02
The bi-weekly Madurai-Tirupati Express will halt at Mayiladuthurai from July 1, the Southern Railway has informed the First Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday. The submission was in response to a public interest writ plea from advocate K Rajendran, president of Social Action Team in Mayiladuthurai. The petition prayed for a direction to the Southern Railway to halt the train at Mayiladuthurai and to issue tickets to the public at the station and to retain the running of the train as it prevailed during the meter gauge period. After the filing of the writ petition, the Southern Railway issued a notification on June 7 last stating that the Railway Board had approved stoppage of the Madurai-Tirupathi train (both directions) at Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai, Kumbakonam and Kodaikanal Road from July 1 for six months on experimental basis. In view of the notification, the writ petition is disposed of the Bench of Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam said.
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Tirumala shrine to close for total lunar eclipse June 14, 2011 13:34
Ahead of the total lunar eclipse, the temple of Lord Venkateswara on the hills of Tirumala will be closed for Darshan from 4 pm on Wednesday. It remains closed for the next 14 hours and devotees will be allowed for darshan from 6 am on Thursday after purification (Suddhi) and other special pujas.The total lunar eclipse begins at 17:23:05 UT (22.53 IST Wednesday) and ends at 23:02:15 UT (04.32 IST Thursday) with the greatest eclipse taking place at 19:22:11 UT (00.52 IST on Thursday) and ending at 21:03:02 UT (2.33 IST on Thursday).The first of the two total lunar eclipses of the year 2011, lasting for one hour 41 minutes, would be visible over Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia and present a spectacular phenomenon to the viewers.
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India pilgrim trail June 06, 2011 14:58
India's pilgrimage centres are fast becoming hot-spots for hotel chains, as both domestic and international groups look to plug a gap in the market for quality accommodation. But a rise in disposable incomes and more Indians experiencing foreign travel both the result of India's buoyant economy have led to demand for more than just a bunk bed in a community centre or floor space at a guesthouse."There was a time when people who were visiting these temple towns didn't have the money for quality accommodation," the associate vice-president of Best Western India, Gaurav Sarin."That's changed very drastically in the past few years. The people who are now visiting are people looking for an international hospitality experience and they have the disposable income to spend on the room and other facilities."It's not hard to see why religious pilgrimages remain an essential part of life for millions in India, from the lowest-paid manual worker to the high flying corporate executive, cricketer or Bollywood movie star.The latest available government figures show there were just over 650 million domestic tourist visits in 2009 up 15.5 percent on a year earlier. The number of foreign visitors fell 3.3 percent to 5.1 million."The bulk of domestic tourists are religious tourists wanting to visit places like Shirdi near Mumbai, Vaishnodevi in the north, Haridwar and Rishikesh in the Himalayas," said Ankur Bhatia, executive director of the Bird Group."The sector is growing tremendously. We're looking at about 10 percent growth every year. It's from the lowest to the highest economic groups in society."Demand for rooms outstrips supply in places like Tirupati, a temple city in southern Andhra Pradesh state which reportedly receives a staggering 50,000 to 70,000 visitors every day.Chains see high returns, even at lower room rates and without additional revenue from hotel bars and restaurants on the pilgrim trail, where being teetotal and not eating meat are prerequisites."A couple of travel advisories can see numbers drop steeply. We saw it during the downturn and after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai."The demand for these temple cities and heritage sites are pretty recession proof. They're not seasonal in nature and if it's bad times, people are going to go to the temple more."Best Western, which has hotels in Amritsar and Shirdi, is looking to build in Ajmer in the northern state of Rajasthan, Puri in eastern Orissa state and Kapra in Andhra Pradesh.Sarin said they are also looking at "three or four" other religious centres for development, without elaborating.The Bird Group is developing its existing resort near Rishikesh to cater for the top end of the market.The chain's chief executive and director, Prabhat Pani, said "eight to 10" of the 40 to 50 new hotels they plan to open in the next five years will be in temple towns."The big story is the Indian traveller. The Indian traveller is not only travelling for business and going abroad but with disposable income going up many are travelling within the country," he said."All this really means is that demand for rooms is increasing and the category that's growing the fastest will really be the budget and economy sector."
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Thives Held in Tirupati June 02, 2011 12:31
The Tirupati crime sleuths have arrested two inter-State criminals who gained notoriety for breaking into houses and decamping with gold and silver jewellery.Bangalore Ravi and Johnson, both hailing from Bellary in Karnataka, were taken into custody when they were wandering in the APSRTC central bus station here...
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APTransco and Discom have embarked on a massive expansion of transmission and distribution network with an outlay of Rs 14,000 crore. June 01, 2011 17:47
TIRUPATI: APTransco and Discom have embarked on a massive expansion of transmission and distribution network with an outlay of Rs 14,000 crore.APTransco chairman and managing director Ajay Jain said 170 substations would come up at an estimated cost of Rs 6000 crore to improve transmission. While the work on 60 substations was under progress, the work on the remaining would begin soon and completed by 2015. Speaking to media-persons here on Monday, he said to improve power distribution, 1400 substations were planned with an outlay of Rs 8000 crore.Reiterating that top priority was being given to agriculture, he said about 1.15 lakh agripower connections were given as against the sanctioned 1.40 lakh in 2010-11. In the current fiscal also, 1.4 lakh free power supply connections were sanctioned.On development works in Chittoor district, he said two 220 KV substations at Palamaner and Nagari would be ready for commissioning by August 15, while a third one at Rachagunneri would be ready by March, next year.This apart, 132 KV substations were planned at Tirupati, V Kota, Garampalli and Vedurukuppam and a 220 KV substation in Madanapalli. Plans were afoot to supply power to the Mannavaram project coming up near Srikalahasthi.He claimed that the power deficit was brought down to 3.2 per cent in 2010-2011 as against 6.6 per cent in the previous year. This is much lower compared to the country's deficit of 8.5 per cent.The chairman said of the 14,300 hamlets in the state, 13,500 hamlets were provided power supply. About Rs 190 crore was required for electrification of the 800 hamlets.
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cm kiran visit to tirupati May 30, 2011 19:41
TIRUPATI: None of the Congress MLAs from the district, who were expected to meet chief minister Ncm kiran visit to tirupation Sunday, cared to turn up at the Padmavati Guest House where Reddy was staying.Only MP, two former MLAs and a few lower-rung leaders called on Reddy. Gangadhar Nellore MLA Gummadi Kuthuhalamma could not make it as she is indisposed and has been admitted to a hospital in Chennai. Reddy’s betenoir and Punganoor MLA Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and Putalapattu MLA Ravi stayed away.. Minister for mines G Aruna Kumari met Reddy at his ancestral home in Kalikiri but did not participate in any of his programmes.The chief minister said he had telephonic conversation with Kuthuhalamma and enquired about her health On the first day of his visit, Madanapalle MLA Shajahan Basha and Chittoor MLA CK Babu had met Reddy for a brief period to discuss development of their constituencies.Yet, sources said Kiran Kumar’s relations with fellow party leaders in the district were better this time than in the past.
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Panel set up to ensure discipline in Tirumala May 27, 2011 19:13
TIRUMALA: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)’s Specified Authority, at its meeting here on Thursday, discussed the recent sexual harassment of a student by his seniors at its Veda Pathashala and constituted a high-level committee of six persons headed by joint executive officer KS Srinvasa Raju to ensure transparency and a disciplined environment.The authority decided to give green signal to the Divya Bharati project, for which it had allocated 29.5 acres of land at Alipiri. The land, allocated to the tourism department in the past, was resumed and alienated for Divya Bharati now.The project envisages providing comprehensive accommodation, transport, commercial establishments in a spiritual ambience at a single place, which is expected to decrease the pressure on Tirumala to an extent. A project report is expected to be submitted to the TTD in six weeks’ time.The authority, by another decision, approved a proposal to install modern vehicle scanners at a cost of Rs 1.36 crore as part of a vehicle surveillance system. Three vehicle scanners will be installed at the Alipiri security check-post. The meeting also decided to request the AP State Police Recruitment Board to fill 210 guard posts in the TTD’s vigilance and security department.On the directions of the state government, the TTD decided to construct dormitories for the attendants of patients at SVIMS Hospital in Tirupati. A study will be conducted to estimate the requirement of bed strength and the expenditure to be incurred.To cut down on delays in the movement of files from the work inspector upwards to the executive officer in case any deviation or modification of any construction or engineering work, it was decided to decentralise the decision-making process. Additional powers will be delegated to the chief engineer, executive engineer and superintending engineers as per the recommendations made by retired chief engineer Kondal Rao.In regard to forest workers’ demands for time scale, the authority said a decision would be taken after careful perusal of the provisions of GO No 3.Specified Authority members Nagi Reddy and IYR Krishna Rao were present at the media briefing by chairman J satyanarayana.
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Rajani fans pray in tirupati for speedy recovery May 26, 2011 13:58
Rajinikanth fans, led by producer N.V. Prasad, broke 1001 coconuts at Alipiri, the foot of the seven hills in Tirupati on Wednesday, praying for the speedy recovery of the superstar.The fans first offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara at the Padala Mandapam, then smashed the coconuts one after another on the granite floor in front of the imposing shrine, seeking the divine intervention of the Lord to see their superstar back in action on the silver screen.The team then proceeded to the ‘Navajeevan Vriddhashram' near Tiruchanur, the abode of Goddess Padmavathi, and offered prayers to the presiding deity. They later organized ‘Annadanam' for the inmates of the old age home nearby.
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Plea for fresh survey of Tamil School site May 06, 2011 13:47
The Municipal Corporation of Tirupati has been urged to conduct a fresh survey of the site at Kennedy Nagar here where its Tamil High School is currently located.Founder-president of the Kennedy Nagar Tamil School Parents Welfare Association and former member of the TUDA has in a representation submitted to C.H. Vijayamohan, Joint Collector, Chittoor underscored the need for fresh survey of the site before the Corporation took up the construction of compound wall cum fencing around the site, as parts of the land has allegedly been encroached upon already by some people of the locality.It is said that the Corporation has earmarked Rs.five lakh for the compound wall work.
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