Tirupati: Arjitha Sevas will commence today

Tirupati: Srikalahasti Devasthanam like several other temples is witnessing huge fall in the number of devotees after it has reopened following the lockdown.

With significant drop in devotees visiting the temple, the temple management has decided to restart allowing devotees in limited numbers to various 'Arjitha Sevas' from Monday onwards.

After the reopening of the temple, only darshan of Lord Siva and Goddess Gnana Prasunambika is being allowed apart from Rahu Kethu pujas. Now, it has been decided to allow devotees to participate in Arjitha Sevas like 'Cow puja', Suprabhatam, Rudrabhishekam for Swamy and Ammavaru, Kalyanotsavam, Chandi homam, Rudra homam and Saneeswara Swamy abhishekam among others.

However, only 10 tickets will be issued for any seva and the entry into 'Antaralayam' will not be allowed. In the past, the Arjitha Seva devotees used to have the privilege of Antaralaya darshan. By allowing the devotees for these sevas, the temple administration has been trying to raise its income at least to some extent.

The temple used to witness about 40,000 devotees daily before lockdown and more than Rs 20 lakh revenue per day. While reopening the temple for darshan from June 17, the temple authorities have expected 10000-15000 devotees daily as social distancing has to be followed.

But, so far the daily number of devotees visiting the temple has not crossed 2,500. The temple has also recorded 600-650 devotees (lowest) turnout.

The daily income has come down steeply to an average of Rs 1.30 lakh. The famed Rahu-Kethu pujas which spin money for the temple also witnessed poor patronage. More than 3,000 devotees used to perform Rahu-Kethu pujas daily consisting of all types of tickets. But now, not even 200 tickets are being sold.

Temple Executive Officer C Chandrasekhar Reddy told The Hans India that as the revenues of the temple were badly hit, they are in search of ways to get more income as far as possible to meet at least the daily expenditure.

To a question, he said that the daily turnout of the devotees was much below than their expectation. All precautions will be taken while allowing devotees for Arjitha Sevas, he added.