Workers laid tar on Tiruchanur road in Tirupati on Monday. | Photo credit: KV Poornachandra Kumar
The beautification work underway on Tirupati’s busy Tiruchanur Road has caused considerable inconvenience to devotees visiting the Goddess Padmavati Ammavari temple. The road is a vital route for hundreds of vehicles heading to the temple.
A visit to Tirumala-Tirupati is not complete without offering prayers at this temple to the goddess of prosperity, which is why pilgrims include it in their itinerary. The annual festival at this temple is held during the auspicious month of Karthika, which usually falls in November.
On Monday, as the temple’s annual brahmotsavam began with the hoisting of the sacred flag on the flagpole, coincidentally, road work began under the Tiruchanur flyover, an important entry point to the panchayat that hosts the famous temple.
The flyover (Tirupati bypass) runs perpendicularly above and leads to Chennai on one side and Bengaluru on the other, while the vents below it lead to Tiruchanur and other villages south of Tirupati.
As black tar lining work progressed on the road, one of the two vents was completely closed to traffic, forcing vehicles from both directions to crawl at a snail’s pace through the single opening. It was difficult for the buses to negotiate the “U” turn under the flyover, making the situation even more chaotic.
Tiruchanur Road is generally illuminated with welcome arches well before the nine-day festival, but the timing of the tar coating work is widely criticized for being started on the wrong day.
Even Endowment Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, who offered a silk Vastram to the temple on Monday afternoon on behalf of the state government, was caught on the block.
When contacted by The Hindu, Superintendent of Police (Tirupati District) L. Subbarayudu acknowledged the plight of the pilgrims and added that the closed section would be reopened in a few days. The Deputy Inspector of Police (Traffic) has been instructed to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the second vent.
Published – 17 Nov 2025 20:20 IST
