Tirupati: TTD to issue 7,000 Sarvadarshan tokens daily

Tirupati: TTD has decided to issue 7,000 offline Sarvadarshan tokens daily. Speaking at the 'Dial Your TTD EO' held in Tirumala on Sunday, TTD Executive Officer Dr K S Jawahar Reddy said daily 7,000 offline Sarvadarshan tokens will be issued for the sake of common pilgrims, putting an end to the uncertainty hanging on TTD continuing the issuance of free darshan tokens

He said to avoid congregation of crowd and keeping in view the safety of pilgrims, the tokens will be issued at two centres Vishnu Nivasam near Railway station and Bhudevi complex near Alipiri RTC bus stand. TTD after a gap of 45 days resumed issuing of free darshan tokens on October 26 only after protests on the delay in resuming Sarvadarshan in the famed Tirumala temple even after decline of Covid cases.

But an element of uncertainty hanged on the continuation of Sarvadarshan after a section of media reports indicating the suspension of tokens at any time to check spread of Covid-19 which was cleared today with EO officially informing the issuance of Sarvadarshan tokens and seeking pilgrims to co-operate with TTD in ensuring safety at the token centres.

In all, 29 calls received on Sunday on various issues and also suggestions from pilgrims.

A caller sought TTD to provide Sarvadarshan tokens online for the convenience of common pilgrims from far off places while another wanted TTD resume privileged darshan for senior citizens and differently abled.

The EO answering the callers on resuming privileged darshan and allowing seniors, said as per present Covid guidelines, it is not possible to allow 65-year-old and above and added TTD will resume these darshanams only if there is any change in Unlock 6.0 guidelines expected by this month end.

Ramachandra Rao from Hyderabad suggested the EO to consider Dubai airport model to allow senior citizen for darshan without waiting to which EO answered that TTD officers will take a look into the suggestion and see the possibilities to implement it in Tirumala.

Srinivasulu from Nellore complained that there is dilution in following Covid guidelines in the queue line with no adequate sanitisers available and also no maintenance of physical distance.

Krishnamurthy from Narasapuram told EO that TTD promoting more Saivite programme though Tirumala temple is Vaishnavite shrine. Answering the caller, the EO said TTD discussed with Agama and Vedic scholars on the conduct of Karthika Deepotsavam and who concluded that there is no difference between Lords Vishnu and Shiva and Karthika month is auspicious for both traditions.