Tirumala will be turned into holy green city: TTD chairman

Tirupati, Aug 30 : The Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Y.V. Subba Reddy, said on Monday that Tirumala will be turned into a green holy city by inducting more and more electric vehicles, as he inducted a new fleet of electric cars.

"Tirumala shall be transformed into a holy green city by inducting more and more electric vehicles in a phased manner," said Reddy.

Reddy on Monday launched 35 electric vehicles after offering a special puja, along with executive officer Jawahar Reddy.

According to Reddy, plans are afoot to replace diesel and petrol vehicles with electric vehicles at Tirumala and in the first phase, 35 Tata Nexon electric cars bought from public sector unit Conversion Energy Services Ltd will ply on Tirumala roads.

Each of these fully charged electrical vehicles can travel for 250 km. It takes eight hours for each charging cycle with AC current and 90 minutes through DC electricity, consuming 30 units of power for each charge.

Currently, the power tariff is Rs 6.70 per unit and it works out to only 80 paise per km.

Likewise, in the second phase, 32 electric buses, including 20 free TTD buses and 12 AP Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses, will be inducted in the next six months.

"The RTC electric buses will be operated between Srivari Padalu, Akasaganga and Papa Vinasanam routes. Upon TTD's request, the RTC will operate all electric buses on the Tirupati -Tirumala ghat roads in the next six months," said a temple official.

Meanwhile, Reddy appealed to all the TTD employees, locals, traders and taxi operators travelling on Tirumala ghat roads to convert their vehicles into electric vehicles at the earliest to make Tirumala pollution free.

As part of the electric fleet's acquisition, TTD will pay Rs 33,600 EMI per month per car for a period of five years to later completely own the vehicles while the leasing company will bear the maintenance cost during this time.