TTD Chairman Bhumana Karunakara Reddy said that it was scientifically proven and since times immemorial the practice of carrying sticks while crossing dense woods or during hunting expeditions as a protective measure to scare wild animals with hand sticks and the provision was not aimed at fighting the wild animals.
He said devotees were sent in groups on footpaths with security guards and police personnel were also stationed at frequent distances and wild animal-prone Zones on the route.TTD efforts to contain the wild animal attack threat had yielded results with the trapping of four leopards.
The hand sticks will be taken back from devotees after they reach Sri Narasimha Swami temple and will be supplied to devotees on a rotation basis. He also left it to the wisdom of critics on the hand sticks exercise to find fault with TTD enterprise in the safety of Srivari devotees.
TTD EO Sri AV Dharma Reddy said several safety initiatives were rolled out by TTD after the June 22 incident at the 7th mile and August 11 at the Sri Narasimha Swami temple areas.
Among them was the installation of 500 CC Camera traps to identify the movement of wild animals and their capture besides driving wild animals into deep forests from the footpaths, stoppage of sale of fruits and vegetables offered as feed to friendly animals like deer, monkeys, etc as a step to stop wild animals approaching footpaths for sake of animals
He said movement of wildlife was identified near Shila Thoranam and the 7th mile on Alipiri footpath. In view of the above, devotees in groups of 100 are advised to move on the footpath along with security personnel, chanting Govinda Nama.
