Aircraft found flying over Tirumala rises concern

Hyderabad: A chartered aircraft of Survey of India (SoI) violated the no-fly zone when it repeatedly flew over the Tirumala Hill Shrine in the last two days.

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Alarmed by the violation, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has lodged a formal complaint with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Chennai.

According to Vykhanasa Agama Shastra, no aircraft should fly over the Vimana Venkateshwara Swamy shrine.

TTD Vigilance Department said they have complained to Chennai ATC after SoI aircraft flew over Tirumala hills. Vigilance Department official Manohar said Chennai ATC has assured that they will not allow any aircraft to fly over Tirumala hills.

After a long fight with the Centre, Civil Aviation Ministry declared Tirumala hills as no fly zone. Earlier, the Centre had denied awarding no flying zone to Tirumala citing the reason that it shrinks the accessibility to Tirupati airport.

Centre had also argued that the terrain constraints near Tirupati airport didn't allow the Civil Aviation Ministry to declare Tirumala hills as no fly zone owing to technical issues.

Later AP government requested Centre to declare Tirumala hills as no fly zone as it houses the temple of Lord Sri Venkateshwara Swamy.

Several times, many planes were spotted flying over the sanctum sanctorum of Tirumala shrine. The planes included passenger flights of private airlines as well. Sometimes, pilots attribute the reason for flying over 'no flying zone' to heavy clouds.