After a girl was murdered by a leopard on the way to the Tirumala shrine, security along the path was increased

After a girl of six years old was killed by a leopard on the Alipiri Footpath route on Friday night, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has increased security together with the forest and police departments at all of the vulnerable places along the footpath route to the Tirumala temple. The incident occurred on the Alipiri Footpath route.

According to the TTD Executive Officer (EO), AV Dharma Reddy, the forest department has already prepared two cages and staffed them with qualified workers so that they are available around the clock.

 

The Chief Conservator of Forests, Nageswara Rao, said that forest staff have already prepared cages and tranquilizers, and that they would soon be successful in capturing the predator.

 

According to the Executive Officer of the TTD, there are plans to install over 500 CCTV cameras along the path, beginning at the Gali Gopuram and continuing all the way to the Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple.

 

The governing board of the temple has issued a call to action to the parents who are hiking on pathways with their children, urging them to take extra safety measures.

 

On Friday evening, a child who was six years old is believed to have been murdered by a leopard while she was heading to Tirumala along the Alipiri pathway. Lakshitha had distanced herself from her parents, Dinesh and Sasikala, and continued to walk ahead of them.

 

Her parents looked for her without success and eventually notified the authorities at TTD. The vigilance and security officers of the TTD, together with the local police and the forest department, conducted a search operation on Saturday morning, and they located the corpse of the missing girl behind the Narasimha Swamy temple. After examining the wounds on Lakshitha’s corpse, employees of the forest indicated they believed she may have died as a result of injuries caused by a leopard.

 

The TTD has declared that beginning immediately, a group of up to one hundred persons, together with one security officer, would be permitted to pass through the potentially dangerous spot. “At this point there are already 30 TTD security and 10 forest guards deployed, and we will enhance the personnel now,” the EO stated. “Already there are 30 TTD security and 10 forest guards deployed.”

 

After obtaining a report from the forest authorities, the TTD will proceed with the implementation of further measures.

 

On June 21, a little child who was just three years old had a remarkable escape after being attacked by a leopard. In the wake of that tragedy, the governing body of the temple urged parents to exercise extreme care whenever they took their children on hikes.

 

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the TTD Trust Board, Bhumana Karunakara Reddy, said that there would be no concessions made regarding the safety of the devotees who go to Tirumala.

 

The Chairman investigated the circumstances surrounding the assault on Lakshita, who was only six years old at the time, and he also went to the location where her death was discovered. Officials from both the forest and the TTD vigilance service described how the wild cat attacked the girl and carried her corpse into the woods.

 

He said that the TTD would not be hesitant to incur any expenditures if the forest, police, and TTD officials came up with extra safety suggestions including technological procedures, and the TTD is dedicated to guaranteeing devotees that there would not be a repetition of occurrences such to this one in the future.

 

He said that in light of efforts to conserve wildlife, the number of wild animals was also on the rise, and the primary concern of the TTD was to protect the lives of pilgrims who were walking along trails.

 

In addition, he gave the family of Lakshita his word that the TTD would provide whatever assistance necessary and stated that the family will get an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 10 lakh, of which Rs. 5 lakh would come from the TTD and Rs. 5 lakh would come from the forest department.

 

In addition to this, he urged parents to exercise extreme vigilance and keep their children within sight at all times when walking on pathways.