Tirumala, March 02: Legendary playback singer and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar was made to wait in a car for about halfan- hour on Sunday by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials who failed to inform her of the travel arrangements they had made for her return journey.
Lata arrived here on Saturday at the invitation of the TTD which released a CD of Annamayya keertans rendered by her. She was also felicitated at the function.
On Sunday, when she was already seated in her car to leave for the Renigunta airport, she found to her dismay that no flight ticket had been booked for her.
An attender at the guest house rang up Officer on Special Duty (OSD) C Ramana who rushed to the spot immediately.
He inquired at the airport and found that her flight tickets were at the Indian Airlines counter and informer her of the same.
Lata was reportedly displeased with the way the TTD officials had treated her. Sources said a TTD official Narasimha Murthy was entrusted with the job of looking after her arrangements.
Further, there were reports of a security failure at the end of the audio release function on Saturday night.
After the programme, Lata was virtually mobbed by the people even as the security personnel remained mute spectators. The security personnel escorted her to the guest house only after a couple of TTD officials intervened.
But Lata’s relatives and friends who had accompanied her were left at the venue itself.
The officials were reportedly busy attending to the Chief Minister and his colleagues who also arrived in Tirumala on Saturday.
–Agencies