Elaborate arrangements being made for Brahmotsavams

Tirumala: Elaborate arrangements are underway for the mega religious event of annual Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala which are scheduled to be held from September 30 to October 8.

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal along with District Collector Dr Narayana Bharat Gupta and Tirupati Urban SP Anburajan held a two-hour long discussion with officials on the arrangements and to ensure an incident-free nine-day religious fete which attracts thousands of devotees from all over the country.

Briefing the media on the arrangements for the Brahmotsavams, Singhal said in all about 9,500 personnel in addition to the existing TTD staff at Tirumala including 4,200 police and home guards, 5,000 including 3500 Srivari Sevak volunteers and 1,500 scouts and guides and 300 senior TTD officials drawn from various departments would be involved in the day-to-day conduct of events for nine days.

As a prelude to Brahmotsavams, Koil Alwar Tirumanjanam will be conducted on September 24 and Ankurarpanam on September 29, he said adding TTD invited Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to present set of new silk vasthrams to the Lord on behalf of the government on the first day of the festival, after Dwajarohanam.

The EO said engineering works including civil and electrical both at Tirumala and Tirupati including facilities in the parking lots have been taken up. About 37 LED screens will be installed which includes 21 in four Mada streets, 13 outside temple and 3 in Tirupati for the public to view the Vahana Sevas, cultural programmes and other events.

"We already have 306 toilets at the galleries of four Mada streets and another 180 temporary toilets will be arranged for the occasion. An additional parking area will be created at Outer Ring

Road and also at SPT area this year for parking of 8,500 vehicles which is 1,000 more than last year," he pointed out. The hill town will be under the surveillance of 1500 CC cameras with round-the-clock monitoring at the Central Command Centre and special teams will be sent wherever required based on the feed received through the cameras. The Srivari Seva volunteers and scouts and guides will render service to the scores of visiting pilgrims including those sitting in the galleries.

Additional arrangements are also being made for increasing free food distribution and also for floral decorations including in the shrine, outside and also Vahanams adding more colour the to the festival. The required 10 tonnes of vegetables and 36 to 40 tonnes of 12 varieties of flowers for Brahmotsavams will be procured through donation, he said.

On the sanitation front, 1,088 sanitary workers will be deployed with additional manpower of 665 on Garuda Seva day. While 2 medical centres, 6 dispensaries, 11 PHCs, 45 doctors, 95 paramedical staff and 12 ambulances will be exclusively deployed by the Medical Department.

Apart from TTD, Chittoor District Collector has also assured to provide the assistance from the district side by deploying expert doctors and paramedical staff for Brahmotsavams, EO added. A NDRF team and additional fire staff will also be stationed at Tirumala enhancing safety and security arrangements for pilgrims.

The APSRTC is set to operate 2,200 round (up and down) trips daily during Brahmotsavams to transport 1.5 lakh devotees while on Garuda Seva day, they will ply 3,000 round trips and transport nearly 2 lakh devotees. The ghat road will kept open round-the-clock for the nine days to cope with the rush.

Elaborating on the cultural programmes, the EO said, nearly 25-30 teams with 400-500 artistes will participate in cultural programmes during the Brahmotsavams. Teams from AP, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Odisha, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat have already given consent while negotiations are going on with few more states, he maintained.

Like in previous years, Arjita Sevas, privileged darshans will be cancelled from September 28 October 10 in view of Brahmotsavams. Similarly, the special darshan for elders, physically challenged persons and parents with infants are also cancelled.