Plastic ban in Tirumala hills in phased manner: TTD

While stepping towards a complete plastic ban in Tirumala, the abode of Lord Sri Venkateswara, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to implement the ban in a phased manner.

Initially, the departments in TTD at Tirumala will completely give up plastic bottle usage in their respective offices.

While Tirupati city has successfully implemented a ban on single-use covers, plates and cups made of plastic, the hill town of Tirumala now seems to have decided to save the serene environs on the seven hills from becoming a plastic dump yard.

Special Officer A V Dharma Reddy, during a weekly review meeting at Annamaiah Bhavan, called upon the officials to work on completely banning the usage of plastic bottles in their offices. He also complimented the Health Department of TTD in Tirumala for observing the total ban on the usage of plastic bottles from the past one week and sought other departments to follow the same.

It was decided to create awareness among the pilgrims through radio and broadcasting announcements, social media messages and in the form of push notifications respectively.

"First let us strictly observe the plastic ban in our departments and later implement the same in big hotels in Tirumala," he said.

Paper boxes for Laddus

The white polythene covers used for carrying the famous Tirumala laddus prepared by the TTD at Srivari Potu will also be replaced by food grade paper boxes similar to the ones used in bakeries to pack cakes and biscuits. However, the TTD has also looked for other alternatives to plastic covers including biodegradable plastic covers, cotton or jute bags.

Sources say that Devasthanam zeroed in on paper boxes that enable the pilgrims to carry them all the way home and also gift them to their dear ones.

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal was also impressed by similar kind of boxes used by the Srisailam Devasthanam to pack the Prasadam. Initially, the paper boxes will be introduced in Tirumala first and later at Tiruchanur temple and other sister temples. The boxes being readied are in three different sizes.

However, TTD is worried that the paper boxes can become unwieldy if the devotee chooses to purchase extra laddus.

“We will first seek feedback from the devotees and then only take a decision,” Singhal told reporters. The TTD is flexible on the idea of shifting to paper boxes.

At present, TTD sells good quality plastic carry bags at the Prasadam counters while many unscrupulous traders also sell low quality plastic bags to gullible pilgrims.