Tirupati: The hovering of a chartered aircraft above Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala for the last two days has been giving anxious moments to officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams as well as temple priests.
After the aircraft, believed to be operated by the Survey of India, repeated the exercise several times on Monday and Tuesday, TTD officials contacted the air traffic control (ATC) at Chennai airport and asked them to stop its movement. Sources said the ATC officials responded positively and the aircraft was not seen in Tirumala skies on Wednesday.
Survey of India carries out such exercises periodically to gather geospatial data. However, Agama advisors and temple priests have raised objections to the flying of the aircraft over the temple. Venugopala Deekshitulu, the chief priest at Tirumala temple, said no object should be allowed to fly in the airspace above the temple as per Vaikhanasa Agama.
“We have been demanding for Tirumala to be declared a no-fly zone for several years now. But time and again, some aircraft manages to fly in the airspace right above the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, leading to sacrilege of sorts. Such incidents also hurt the sentiments of millions of devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the globe,” Deekshitulu said.
06/02/20 Raghavan Kumar/Times of India
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After the aircraft, believed to be operated by the Survey of India, repeated the exercise several times on Monday and Tuesday, TTD officials contacted the air traffic control (ATC) at Chennai airport and asked them to stop its movement. Sources said the ATC officials responded positively and the aircraft was not seen in Tirumala skies on Wednesday.
Survey of India carries out such exercises periodically to gather geospatial data. However, Agama advisors and temple priests have raised objections to the flying of the aircraft over the temple. Venugopala Deekshitulu, the chief priest at Tirumala temple, said no object should be allowed to fly in the airspace above the temple as per Vaikhanasa Agama.
“We have been demanding for Tirumala to be declared a no-fly zone for several years now. But time and again, some aircraft manages to fly in the airspace right above the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, leading to sacrilege of sorts. Such incidents also hurt the sentiments of millions of devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the globe,” Deekshitulu said.
06/02/20 Raghavan Kumar/Times of India
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