Tirumala Hills to become plastic-free zone soon

Tirumala, May 3: In a bid to arrest the increasing pollution atop Tirumala hills, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), administrators of the famous Lord Venkateswara temple here, has decided to make it a plastic-free zone.

Participating in the 'Dial your Executive Officer' programme here yesterday, EO K V Ramanachary said laddu covers, being sold at Tirumala by TTD, would be banned first and then action would be taken against private shops using plastic covers.

The decision to make Tirumala a plastic-free zone was taken after holding discussions with scientists and Mysore and Chennai based eco-scientists, he said.

To encourage poor students, intermediate books would be supplied free of cost to 90,000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) students from this academic year at a cost of Rs four crore in the state, he added.

UNI