Pilgrim rush unabated at Tirumala shrine
Devotees without tokens were taking 30 hours time for darshan and waiting in serpentine queues formed till Shilathoranam
TIRUMALA: Heavy weekend rush coupled with a series of holidays which began since Thursday has been continuing in Tirumala on Sunday.
The queue lines are getting added at Shilathoranam and for token-less devotees it is taking approximately 30 hours for darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy.
In spite of repeated announcements about the time at Tirupati Railway station, bus station, Alipiri, the pilgrim crowd is swarming to Hill Town. TTD has made elaborate arrangements of Annprasadam, water and security to the multitude of visiting pilgrims. On Saturday itself, Annaprasadam was served to 80 thousand pilgrims in MTVAC and another 80,000 in outside queue lines.
About 2500 Srivari Sevaks have been deployed to render services to the waiting pilgrims in all these areas.Under the instructions of TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy, in the supervision of JEO Veerabrahmam, all the senior officers of TTD in Tirumala have been monitoring the facilities from time to time and ensuring hassle-free darshan to devotees.
The TTD has appealed to the devotees to arrive at Tirumala only if they mandatory tokens for darshans to avoid confusion and waiting in long queues for token-less darshan. The TTD said that the devotees having time slot darshan and SED tokens were having darshan in only three to four hours.
Chief Secretary offers prayers at Tirumala
In the meantime, Andhra Pradesh State Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy offered prayers in Tirumala temple on Sunday during Suprabhata Seva.
After darshan, he was rendered Vedasirvachanam at Ranganayakula Mandapam by Vedic Pundits. Temple DyEO Sri Ramesh Babu presented him with Swamivari Theertha Prasadams.
