Bengaluru: With a severe water crisis gripping temple town Tirumala, Karnataka govt has stopped issuing recommendation letters for devotees seeking rooms and dormitories at state-owned Karnataka Bhavan.Bhavan, located at the abode of Lord Venkateswara, sits across five blocks with 350 rooms, 12 dormitories and a Kalyana Mantapa. It’s one of the largest pilgrim accommodation complexes in Tirumala.Tirumala has more than 7,000 cottages and guest houses, apart from pilgrim amenities complexes, govt guest houses and numerous public toilets. Water shortage has hit all accommodation complexes.Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Muzrai) dept has put out a message in the office of minister KS Basavanthappa announcing that no recommendation letters will be issued for room and hall bookings at the facility operated by the state govt.Basavanthappa told TOI Tirumala had been facing scarcity for the past few weeks. “Drought has gripped the entire peninsular region. We’ve been relying on water tankers to supply water to the Karnataka Bhavan for the time being,” the minister said.Due to lack of rainfall over the past six months, water levels in Kalyani, Papavinasanam, Gogarbham, Kumaradhara, Pasupudhara and Akasha Ganga have plummeted to an all-time low. Sources in the muzrai department said Tirumala needs 20-25 million litres per day, with much of its supply drawn from reservoirs in the vicinity. Their water levels, however, have been depleting rapidly.“Post the Brahmotsava, TTD asked us to provide water only for potable purposes and supply water only during two hours each in the morning and in the evening. With difficulty, we managed to secure a supply of four water tankers. Currently, we are not entertaining offline bookings and only accommodating online bookings as they would have booked three months in advance. For them also it is only for freshening up that we are providing water,” an official said.
