Tirupati: Record 50,200 devotees have darshan of Lord Venkateswara

Tirupati: The number of pilgrims who had darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, crossed 50,000 mark on Saturday.

According to temple sources, 50,200 had darshan while the number of pilgrims tonsured as a mark of fulfillment of their vows was 25,621 and the cash offering in the temple Hundi stood at Rs 3.11 crore.

With the TTD issuing daily 20,000 offline SSD tokens for free darshan of common pilgrims since two weeks, the number of pilgrims who had darshan in the shrine is ranging from 45,000 to 49,000 and on Saturday it went further up crossing 50,000 mark which is the highest so far after the famed shrine was thrown open for public darshan in June last year, following the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions.

In all, the TTD is allowing about 50,000 pilgrims daily under various categories including Rs 300 special entry tickets and offline free SSD tokens (20,000 each), Arjitha Sevas that are performed virtually with a provision for darshan including Kalyanotsavam, Unjal Seva, Sahasra Deepalankara Seva, Darshan linked Srivani trust donation and donors of various trusts floated by TTD for social service activities etc.

The decline of Covid cases in many States particularly in the two Telugu States coupled with restoration of more and more bus and train services from various places to Tirupati naturally enabling more number of devotees visit the most popular hilltop temple town for darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

It is needless to say with the substantial increase of pilgrims being allowed daily for darshan, the darshan timing also has been extended up to 11 in the night i,e, 18 hours daily duly following Covid guidelines and the two pilgrim footpaths are also being kept open for the ticket holding devotees who prefer to reach Tirumala on foot including Alipiri which is from morning to up to 2 pm and Srivaari mettu up to 4 pm, for darshan of Lord.

Meanwhile, TTD Chairman Y V Subba Reddy recently disclosed that the TTD will consider increasing the number of pilgrims being allowed for darshan daily further in March keeping in view the Covid vaccination and the corona cases coming down indicating that the pandemic is under control.