SSD tokens to be issued at about 100 counters in Tirupati

Tirumala: With less than a week left for the major religious event Vaikunta Ekadasi, the TTD has geared up for the conduct of 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshan at the famed Tirumala temple from January 2-11.

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal along with senior officials on Monday inspected the arrangements being made for providing Vaikunta Dwara Darshan to maximum number of devotees numbering about 80,000 daily as per the TTD Trust Board's decision.

After inspecting the ongoing arrangements for Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan at Tirumala, Singhal said earlier Vaikunta Dwara Darshan used to be only on Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadasi, the TTD was able to provide the Uttara Dwara Darshan to only limited number of pilgrims, though tens of thousands of devotees who turned out remain waiting for long in queue lines.

But with the TTD management's pilgrim-friendly decision to keep open the Vaikunta Dwaram for 10 days, now the temple administration is able to provide Vaikunta Dwara Darshan to about 80,000 devotees each day, thereby facilitating almost eight lakh devotees to have Vaikunta Dwara Darshan, he observed.

The EO said the Vaikuta Dwara Darshan for devotees will be open between January 2 and January 11. To avoid waiting hours, the TTD board has decided to allow the devotees with specified time slots to have hassle-free darshan.

In Tirupati, nine centres with almost 100 counters would be set up for issuance of the time slotted sarva darshan (SSD) tokens to the devotees for Vaikunta Dwara Darshan, he said. Adding further the EO said for the sake of devotees to have a smooth darshan without waiting, they are requested to come to Tirumala at their allotted time slots only. Due to limited accommodation, only those with tokens or tickets of darshan will be allotted accommodation at Tirumala on a first-come-first-serve basis, he maintained.

"We give wide publicity to the devotees on darshan updates through TTD website, SVBC etc. The devotees are requested to plan their Tirumala visit based on the availability of tokens only. When we released 2 lakh Special Entry Darshan tickets (Rs 300) online, they got booked in 44 minutes. As many as 31 lakh hits were recorded from across the country to book SED tickets, which clearly shows the huge demand for Vaikunta Dwara Darshan at Tirumala," he said.

All the departments in TTD including Annaprasadam, Health, Transport etc. have been making elaborate arrangements for the upcoming Vaikunta Dwara Darshan.

Earlier, the EO inspected Krishna Teja Rest House Circle, Narayanagiri Gardens and ATC Circle to verify the entry points and gave necessary instructions to the officials concerned to make arrangements accordingly. Additional EO (Full Additional Charge) V Veerabrahmam, CVSO D Narasimha Kishore, SVNC chief executive officer Shanmukh Kumar, chief engineer Nageswara Rao and other officials were also present.