Tirupati: Corona scare hits income of traders at religious places

Tirupati: All the famous religious places like Tirumala, Srikalahasti and Kanipakam have been closed for Darshan of devotees in the district due to the Covid-19 scare.

In normal days thousands of devotees visit these temples daily as part of tourism.

However, owing to the corona outbreak, the number of devotees has come down drastically for the past one week. The total darshan activities were stopped from March 19 to March 31.

By this development, hundreds of small and marginal vendors were pushed into financial problems.

According to information, in all the three major religious centres, more than 2,000 small and marginal vendors have been doing business. But for the last two days, total business activities were shut down by its vendors, owners in Tirumala, Srikalahasti and Kanipakam.

The business of small vendors depends on devotees floating only. They sell puja and food items besides tea, coffee and cool drinks. Now, they lost their business due to the corona threat.

According to business association information, every day around Rs 1.5 crore business was going on at Tirumala per day. Similarly, another Rs 1.5 crore business was done in Srikalahasti and Kanipakam put together. Now, as the Darshan was closed to devotees, all these vendors will be in financial trouble due to a lack of business.

A small roadside tea seller S Giribabu of Tirumala said to The Hans India, I was earning Rs 1000 by selling tea to devotees till two days ago. Now, I lost the daily income.