An announcement made by Chittoor collector Dr N Bharat Gupta including the pilgrim centre of Tirumala among the list of Containment Zones for Covid-19 has created flutters in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
The Collector has apparently taken a decision following reports that at least 20 people on the Tirumala hills were infected with Covid-19. In Tirupati, there have already been hundreds of Coronavirus cases, creating panic among the people.
But the inclusion of Tirumala in the list of containment zones has angered the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which registered a protest with the district collector.
The TTD authorities wondered how the collector would declare Tirumala as containment zone without consulting the TTD.
If Tirumala becomes a containment zone, then the temple has to be closed again for darshans by pilgrims and a lockdown should be imposed.
It was only a month ago that the temple was thrown open for pilgrims and now, a limited number of 12,000 pilgrims are having darshan of the lord every day.
The TTD authorities told the collector that Tirumala is not a habitation but only a pilgrim centre, where the population will be floating. So, as per the rules, it cannot be declared as a containment zone, they argued.
As the decision reached the higher authorities in Tadepalli, the Collector had to take back his decision within hours and remove Tirumala from the list of containment zones.
The Collector said Tirumala was included inadvertently and released a fresh list of containment zones.