Record 6.47 L have Vaikuntadwara Darshan: EO

Tirumala: TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy on Tuesday said that a record number of 6.47 lakh devotees were provided Vaikuntadwara Darshan between December 23 and January 1.

Addressing a media conference at Annamayya Bhavan here, he said devotees were provided with comfortable and hassle-free Srivari darshan through time slotted tokens to avoid prolonged wait in queue lines and more number of devotees than usual had Annaprasadam during the period.

He said during 10 days as many as 19,255 VIP break protocol tickets were issued but only 18,578 visited and 677 (3.3 per cent) were absent. Similarly, 6,858 tickets were booked online by donors of which 6,388 were in attendance and 470 (7 per cent) were did not turn up.

The Srivani Trust donors were issued 20,000 tickets, of which 917 (4.5 per cent) did not come. A total of 2.25 lakh Rs 300 Special Entry Darshan tickets were issued online, of which 1,97,254 availed darshan with 27,476 (12.2 per cent) abstention. Nearly 4,23,500 time slot Sarva Darshan tokens were issued, of which 3,24,102 utilised darshan and 90,850 (21.5 per cent) did not come.

Similarly, TTD hundi collection recorded Rs 40.20 crore, 35.60 lakh laddus sold and 2.14 lakh devotees got tonsured.

Temple DyEO Lokanatham, VGO Nanda Kishore and catering OSD G L N Shastri were also present.