Landslides hit traffic on Tirumala ghat
TIRUMALA: Traffic on the second ghat road leading to Tirumala hill shrine was stranded for more than six hours after landslides following heavy rains blocked the road. The TTD staff and police had to toil for hours to remove the landslides and also to regulate the traffic.
Boulders slipped and fell on the ghat road covering last two kilometre stretch of road. The TTD usually takes up adequate measures during rainy season to ensure smooth flow of traffic in case of landslides.
The rocks also fell near 16 kilometre sign board on Sunday at 6 am. The traffic came to a halt within minutes at a stretch for three kilometres. A large number of devotees thronged the hill shrine on the occasion of Karthika Pournami.
The traffic police reached the spot first than the engineering department officials. They managed to remove few rocks and created a space for vehicles to travels in single lane.
Simultaneously, the officials opened the alternate route on the ghat road, just a half-kilometre before the place landslides fell, and diverted traffic to the first ghat road between Tirumala-Tirupati.
Traffic personnel were posted throughout the one-and-half kilometre stretch on the Tirumala-Tirupati ghat as vehicles were allowed to ply to the hill shrine in the opposite direction.
The engineering wing officials reached the place with heavy duty vehicles by 10 a.m. They could clear the road by afternoon and traffic moved ahead without any obstructions after that.
News Posted: 17 November, 2013
|
