TTD mulling to increase VIP break darshan ticket price

Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is planning to increase the price of VIP break darshan tickets soon. After a coordination meeting with TTD officials at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala on Tuesday, JEO K S Sreenivasa Raju in an informal chat with the mediapersons said that the proposal has been under consideration.  

While Rs 300 ticket holders are having only Maha Laghu darshan of Lord Venkateswara from Jaya Vijayulu itself, the VIP break darshan ticket holders are being allowed to go inside the sanctum sanctorum till ‘Kulasekhara Padi’ by paying just Rs 500 which is only Rs 200 more than special darshan ticket.

Since, VIP break darshan tickets are being allotted to VIPs, there is a view that these ticket prices can be increased. Accordingly, TTD authorities have been carrying out an exercise on the increase in price of tickets. The JEO indicated that the break darshan tickets may be hiked to Rs 1500 and Rs 2000 depending on the category of L1 and L2. Presently, the price of both category tickets is Rs 500. 

There has also been a proposal to increase the price of various Arjitha Seva tickets like Thomala seva, Archana, Suprabhatam, Abhishekam etc. and a decision in this regard will be taken very soon. Meanwhile, in the coordination meeting, the JEO reviewed the progress of works of ‘Slotted Sarva Darshan’ (SSD) counters which are set to commence on second fortnight of March. He directed the officials concerned to complete the civil, electrical, IT works as per the schedule. 

All the 55 SSD counters in Tirupati and 32 in Tirumala should be completed within the time frame, he said. TTD Chief Engineer Chandrasekhar Reddy, FACAO Balaji and other senior officers were present.