Darshan for devotees resumes at Tirumala

Tirupati: After an 80-day-long COVID-19 lockdown ban, a three-day trial run of darshan of Lord Venkateswara began at the Tirumala temple on Monday with staff and others attached to it following strict protective measures.

Though it was a trial run and only about 6,000 employees were permitted to have darshan, the over 2000- year-old hill temple complex shrine with time slot free darshan, the religious fervour was something worth witnessing.

The staff who had the opportunity to have darshan of said they felt as if they were seeing the Lord for the first time. Never before was there such a long gap and the experience was "ecstatic", they said.

The entire temple premises was tastefully decorated with aromatic flowers of various hues giving a touch of festive look to mark the beginning of the much-awaited darshan.

After the performance of predawn rituals Suprabhatham, Thomala and Archana, darshan for the employees commenced as per the schedule at 6 am. There was no Theertham and Satari blessing after the darshan of the presiding deity.

On Monday, visitors had to offer worship to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara from the 'Dwarapalakas Mandapam' located over 100 feet away from the inner sanctum.

RTC buses were operated only from the Balaji bus station near Alipiri where the employees have to wait for nearly an hour to board the bus after checking.

Again, the elaborate screening at the toll gate saw the employees wait for one more hour testing their patience to go to Tirumala.

TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy, Executive Officer Anil Kumar and Board members were among those who had a darshan of Lord immediately after it was commenced. Reddy hinted that there was a possibility of permitting more than 6000 devotees soon.

The employees involved in regulating the crowd wore Personal Protectiive Equipment (PPE) suits. Elaborate arrangements are in place in Tirumala to ensure smooth conduct of darshan duly following safety norms like use of hand sanitizer, maintaining physical distance at all points like queue lines and laddu counters.

At Alipiri, the entry point to Tirumala, additional staff, including medical and security personnel, were posted to ensure that all devotees were screened properly, vehicles and baggage was sanitised before allowing them to proceed to Tirumala. Alipiri has been turned into an impregnable fortress.