In a shock to the pilgrims visiting Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board on Saturday decided to increase the entry fees at Alipiri toll plaza at the foothills of Tirumala.
A decision to this effect was taken at the TTD trust board meeting held in Tirumala on Saturday.
While the two wheelers, who are presently paying Rs 2 at the entrance will get exemption from toll fee, the TTD decided to increase the toll fee for cars and jeeps from Rs 15 and 30 to a uniform Rs 50, buses and lorries from Rs 50 to Rs 100 and for heavy vehicles from Rs 100 to Rs 200.
The toll fee will definitely fetch a huge revenue to the TTD, as thousands of vehicles come to Tirumala every day.
The trust board approved an annual budget of Rs 3,309.89 crore for 2020-21, which is Rs 60 crore more than the previous year’s budget.
The TTD expects to get revenue of Rs 1,351 crore through Hundi offerings, Rs 706 crore in the form of interests and Rs 400 crore from sale of laddus.
The trust board decided to procure advanced equipment like thermo-fluid Kadai at a cost of Rs 3.30 crore to prevent frequent fire accidents in Boondi Potu.
The other decisions of the TTD trust board include: completion of balance works in the extension of Alipiri-Cherlopalle road at Rs 16 crore, taking up construction of Sri Padmavathi Ammavari temple at Chennai at a cost of Rs 3.92 crore, to construct Anjaneya Swamy temple, Pushkarini, Vahana Mandapam, Kalyanotsava Mandapam and other works at Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Jubilee Hills at Hyderabad, to set up 1300 CCTV cameras in Tirumala etc.
