Forest dept criticised for collecting toll fee from pilgrims

Tirumala, Aug 4 (UNI) Even though only Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is authorised to do so, the forest department officials have been collecting toll gate fee from Akasaganga, Papavinasanam and Venugopalaswamy temples in the seven hills, official sources said.

The toll fee of Rs two for two-wheelers, Rs 10 for cars and Rs 50 for a private taxi was being collected from the visiting pilgrims, according to forest department sources.

The BJP, BJYM and Left parties had strongly criticised the charging of toll fee from pilgrims using the footpath to reach the Venkateswara temple here. They demanded the state government to hand over the control of forest areas to the TTD, as per a recent order.

Instead of protecting the forest cover and valuable red sanders from smuggling, the forest officials were collecting money in the name of toll from the pilgrims, they alleged.

When queried TTD Trust Board Chairman B Karunakar Reddy said he had discussed the issue with concerned officials in Hyderabad and urged them to remove the toll gate.

He also clarified that the forest officials had stopped collecting toll fee from the pilgrims since yesterday evening.

UNI