Rs 50 crore parking-lot to come up at Tirumala

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara near here, will build a multi-storied parking lot for pilgrim vehicle at Seshadrinagar area close to the shrine, TTD officials said today.
The mega parking lot would be constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 50 crore, TTD Board Chairman K Bapiraju and TTD Executive Officer, M G Gopal told reporters after the monthly board meeting held on the hills this evening.
As per the wish of a devotee, M Ramalinga Raju, an entrepreneur based in the US, who made an offering of Rs 11 crore in the form of demand draft in April last, the TTD today decided to make a multi-layered golden garland 'Sahasra Naama Kasula Mala' , weighing about 33 kg, for the main deity, they said.

The board has also given its approval for putting up a pilgrim free meal complex close to the Padmavathi shrine in Tiruchanur rpt shrine in Tiruchanur at a cost of about Rs.5 crore donated by the same NRI devotee, they said.
A giant storage godown is also to be built at the foot of the hills called Alipiri here to preserve human hair offerings made by devotees at the mega tonsure centre on the hills.
Temple sources told PTI that of the two crore devotees thronging the ancient and cash-rich shrine annually, about 70 lakh devotees, including women and children, get their heads tonsured as fulfilment of their vow.

The human hair auction is expected to net about Rs 200 crore in 2013-14 fiscal, the sources added.