TTD allows 35K devotees for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam

Tirupati: As TTD has prepared to issue offline tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam in Tirupati on December 24, Additional EO A V Dharma Reddy appealed to non-locals not to come to Tirupati for offline tickets.

Along with MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy and Urban SP Ramesh Reddy, he inspected all the ticket issuing centres in the temple city on Saturday.

Later, talking to media persons, he said as against the usual darshan provision to nearly one lakh devotees every year, this year due to Covid restrictions, darshan will be provided only to 35,000 devotees by strictly following all the Covid guidelines during Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam. "For the first time, we are opening Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam for 10 days starting from December 25 till January 3. We have already issued 20,000 tickets online for each day in Rs 300 Special Entry Darshan quota. We have also released 20,000 Srivani tickets online for these 10 days. Devotees from across the country booked these tickets and the entire online quota exhausted within a few hours," he added.

He said TTD will release one lakh tickets for these 10 days for the sake of locals at five earmarked centres in Tirupati on December 24 following all the Covid 19 norms. "Due to the prevailing Covid situation, this year we have decided to issue offline tickets only to locals for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam. So, we appeal to non-local devotees not to come to Tirupati for offline tickets as it may result in huge gatherings and might increase the chances of Covid as well as impact on law and order situation," vhe observed.

Urban SP said elaborate policing arrangements will be made at these five counters and every Aadhaar card will be scrutinised before tokens are issued to locals.