A tiger holds up a bus with 30 pilgrims in forests of Adilabad

It was a rare occasion when people got a chance to observe a tiger in the wild in natural surroundings from really close quarters. It was a spine chilling experience on a chilly winter night deep in the forests of Jinnaram in Adilabad district for the group of 30 pilgrims who were returning home in a TSRTC bus from the Sammakka-Saralamma tribal fair at Medaram in Warangal district. The bus belonged to the Nirmal depot and was on its way to Jinnaram village via Luxettipet when the big cat was spotted at Pidepally forest area around midnight.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 22 February 2016.

The pilgrims were fast asleep at the time and woke up after the driver brought the vehicle to a screeching halt and they saw the two glowing eyes of the big cat - it was a nightmare experience for the 30 passengers in the bus. And they wee joined by three more. They were friends and were on a two-wheeler. Once they came to know about the tiger, they abandoned heir vehicle and entered the bus. And, a total of nearly 15 vehicles were stranded in the middle of the forest as the tiger staged a `midnight sit-in' for 45-minutes.
Jinnaram falls under the Kawal tiger reserve and these animals do occasionally stray into the area from neighboring Maharashtra in search of food and water.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Plgrims to Sabarimala continue to leave their clothes on the banks of Pamba

Many of the pilgrims who visit Sabarimala temple usually leave their clothes on the banks of the river Pamba in the belief that such an the act will absolve them of their sins. This practice has been banned by the High Court but, still, the devotees continue to leave their clothes on the river banks. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has, therefore, awarded the contract for collecting these clothes to a Tamil Nadu native for Rs 8 lakh.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 22 December 2015.

Usually the board auctions the right to collect clothes in the river but, this time, they did not do that because of the high court order. Instead, they deployed a contractor this year too as pilgrims continue leaving their clothes in the river.
The TDB president has admitted that the awareness campaigns among pilgrims in this regard had not brought the desired results. The police personnel deployed in Sabarimala are busy controlling the rush of pilgrims and find it difficult to monitor the discarded clothes aspect. A suitable solution would have to worked out to overcome this difficulty.

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Tirumala temple flooded for first time in history - only a trickle of devotees

The heavy rains in the region has flooded the famous Tirumala temple of Lord Balaji and there is just a trickle of devotees. The temple remained out of bounds for thousands of pilgrims because of floods and landslides that had been triggered by continuous rains. The authorities were forced to keep an arterial road leading to the temple closed.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 November 2015.

Usually it sees a heavy rush on weekends but, this weekend, the rush to one of the country's most famous hilltop shrine shrunk by half to just 50,000. There were at least 30,000 fewer pilgrims waiting for darshan the next day. It took just three hours for the general darshan to be completed those who travel by foot through the mountains got darshan within two hours because there were very few people en route.
Many devotees were compelled to cancel their trips because rains have been continuously pounding the temple town and the shrine above for the last 10 days, forcing people to stay indoors.

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In a tragic air disaster, a helicopter ferrying pilgrims to Mata Baishno Devi temple crashed in Reasi district and six pilgrims with the pilot were killed. The helicopter belonged to the Himalayan Heli Services and the services have, since been suspended pending investigations.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 23 November 2015.
The weather on ground was fine at the time of the incident and, the ill-fated helicopter had taken off from Sanjhichhat helipad (in Trikuta hills) near the shrine. It was supposed to land at the Katra Bus Stand helipad when it crashed in the mountain area.

Those on board the helicopter have been identified and the chopper caught fire immediately on crashing on the mountainside. Authorities from police and civil administration including the district magistrate and the district police chief, rushed to the crash spot immediately after receiving the news.

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Three new temples of Lord Balaji coming up in Amaravati, Raipur and Gandhinagar

Lord Balaji is the world's richest God and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam TTD is fanning out to other parts of the country with temples of Lord Balaji temples and Balaji Bhavans. The TTD has decided to construct temples dedicated to Lord Sri Venkateswara (also called Lord Sri Balaji) in Andhra Pradesh's proposed capital Amaravati, apart from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur and Gujarat capital Gandhinagar.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 2 October 2015.

The work on Lord Balaji temples is currently underway in Kurushetra, Delhi and Kanyakumari. The TTD, which manages the world's richest temple in Tirumala, already runs Sri Balaji temples and Balaji Bhavans in Chennai, Bangalore and Hardwar.
TTD wants to increase its reach and the governments of Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have agreed to donate land for the proposed temples. Other states like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have earmarked parcels of land in state capital cities.
The requirement of land is five to seven acres and, once the state government hands over the land, TTD will begin work – it will bear the entire cost of the project.
Right now, an average of 50,000 pilgrims visit Tirumala every day and, this goes up to one lakh during weekends and holidays Therefore, the proposed temples will be of great help to the devotees, who cannot make it to Tirumala for the darshan.
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The chopper services for pilgrims to Kedarnath shrine poses a risk to the eco-system in the region and affects the Kedarnath Sanctuary which is home to exotic flora and fauna. Many of the pilgrims want to avoid the 16-Km trek to visit the shrine in Rudraprayag district and go in for the chopper services.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 24 August 2015.

In the opinion of NGO Doaba Paryavaran Samiti, helicopter operations in the region for religious tourism has "seriously disturbed the eco-system and fauna of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary". Hence, it has expressed concern over the "looming threat" to flora and fauna in the eco-sensitive Wildlife Sanctuary.
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This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india dated 19 July 2015.

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Following the Supreme Court's concern over the large number of pilgrim deaths in 2012, an expert committee had explained that shortage of oxygen supply on the route to the cave results in difficulties in digesting stuff like fast foods and cold drinks – that leads to breathing problems and health problems. The SASB has also asked the larger organizers not to distribute fried food items and cold drinks since they are also not good for the health in low oxygen conditions. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Very soon there could be cruises on the Ganga in Varanasi

#InlandWaterways #Varanasi #NarendraModi #NitinGadkari If everything goes well, we could very soon see cruises on the Ganga, near Varanasi – the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It would probably bring Varanasi at par with London that has its famous cruises on the Thames. The tentative target to complete this project is 2018-19 – is it scheduled to coincide with the 2nd term of NaMo?
Along with focusing on developing a waterway for heavy cargo vessel navigation in the Ganga under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP), the Indian Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is also exploring commercial viability of passenger cruise operations - keeping in mind domestic tourists and pilgrims.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 June 2015.

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Moreover, the minimal depth of waterway was a major deterrent for attracting cargo vessel operators on this route since, only small cargo vessels could be navigated in and that was not commercially viable.
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