Tirumala witnesses heavy pilgrim rush

Tirupati: The temple town Tirumala is witnessing heavy influx of pilgrims this week-end resulting in Sarva Darshan devotees had to wait for more than 24 hours for their turn to have darshan of the lord.

As more number of devotees preferring to visit the hill shrine inthe week-end just before the schools reopening onJune 12 this year, the pilgrim influx was much more than the previousweek ends resulting in elaborate queue lines extending uptoLepakshi point(nearly 4 kms) on Saturday after the massive Vaikuntam queue complexwas full to the brim.

However, the rush started receding by Sundayevening leading to queue line outside the complex extended upto SMC Generator and is likely to be reduced further by Monday.

TTD sources said 2.41 lakh devotees had darshan including 78,873on Friday, 93,471 on Saturday and 69,214 on Sunday (till 6 pm) whilethe waiting time for darshan in the queue line was 24hours.

The Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) token counters witnessed huge rush and 20,000 tokens were issued for Saturdays and Sundays. The TTD has set up 33 SSD counters in Tirumala and 57 counters inTirupati including Vishnu Nivasam opposite to Railway station where 22counters functioning, which issued 4,000 tokens, RTC bus stand having 12counters issued 3,000 tokens and Srinivasam where 5 counters set upissued 2,100 tokens on Saturday while the remaining were in the counters atvarious places in the city and also on the hills.

TTD made elaborate arrangements for supply of free food, drinkingwater, coffee, tea and snacks on round-the-clock basis in Vaikuntam queue complex and outside the queue line for the benefitof pilgrims.

Meanwhile the impact of heavy rush was felt by the APSRTC onSunday with pilgrims returning home after darshan swelled giving toughtime to authorities to manage them. The pilgrims jostled with eachother to enter the bus while many sneaked into the vehiclesthrough windows.