Devotees want revival of 'Sudarshan Token' system at Lord Balaji's abode

Hyderabad: Even as the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has spoken about revamping the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the devotees want the previous system of ‘Sudarshan Token’ to be brought back so as to plan their journey for the seamless darshan of Lord Sri Venkateshwara Swamy in Tirumala.

Though devotees visit Tirumala from across the country, a majority of them are from the two Telugu states. While the TTD authorities have made available the online slots, the bookings for August have been completed in June itself. Therefore, the devotees want the old system back so that they can have a confirmed darshan slot.

A devotee N Yagneshwari said that earlier they used to first book the darshan slots and then go for the railway tickets but after the Sudarshan Token system was removed, they are finding it difficult to plan their journey. “We used to visit the TTD office at Himayatnagar with Aadhaar cards and book the Rs 300 darshan slot. The online system which was replaced was of no help for us as the slots get filled within a few minutes. There are many who are not tech-savvy and bringing back the old token system will be of immense help,” she said.

Earlier, there was a system of Sudarshan Token where a certain quota of around 1,000 slots per day was reserved for the devotees booking the darshan. However, this system was removed after the TTD brought in the system of releasing the quota online. The authorities at the TTD Himayatnagar said that the online facility is good as people can book the slots from anywhere and it can help in avoiding the strain of coming here. The official said that the devotees can avail the option of coming here when the slots are released but the time will be very less hence it is advisable for the devotees to book online.

However, not many are lucky to book their slots online because the entire quota of the month gets exhausted within a few minutes. Advocate K Siddharth said that in the old system they had seamless darshan but now the authorities are not honouring the letters from the public representatives of Telangana, leading to more problems. “Once my in-laws visited Tirumala without any advance booking of the darshan but had to return by praying from outside the temple as the authorities did not accept the letter from the local MLA, and Sarva darshan time was 48 hours. Hence if the old system is brought back, it will be of immense help,” said Siddharth, who requested the new government to allocate some quota for devotees like him.

Another devotee S Narasimha Chary said that the quality of the laddu was not like the olden days. “The laddu nowadays is getting dried up within a couple of days by the time we reach home. Moreover, the dry fruit content has also reduced. It's good that a CM who has Hindu beliefs has promised to revamp the administration,” he said.

The official said that the citizens can have laddus here in the city on every Saturday and Sunday at two places, Himayatnagar and at the temple in Jubilee Hills.