Tirumala witnesses heavy pilgrim rush

Tirupati: In view of the four consecutive holidays, Tirumala is witnessing a heavy rush of devotees for the last two days. Devotees from not only the state but also from other parts of the country are thronging the hill shrine to have a darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

Highlights:

• As many as 93,000 devotees had a darshan on Saturday
• Railway station, bus stands flooded with passengers
• While RTC is running additional services according to demand, railways under fire from pilgrims for not doing so

The pilgrim flow began swelling from Saturday itself when 93,290 devotees had a darshan while 57,214 got their heads tonsured on that day. The hundi collection of the temple crossed Rs 3 crores. Queue complexes are full to the brim and the lines extended well outside the complex on Sunday morning. It is taking more than 12 hours for Sarvadarshan. TTD authorities are taking all steps to provide food and water to the waiting devotees in queue lines.

Tirupati railway station and bus stand were also overcrowded with heavy influx of passengers. Long queues were seen at the railway reservation counters, general booking counters, enquiry office, etc. The platforms, which are congested even during normal days, were flooded with passengers who were waiting hours together to get their trains which are packed. Passengers expressed unhappiness at railways for not running any special trains from Tirupati despite the expected heavy rush due to long holiday period.

RTC authorities, however, are operating additional bus services according to the demand. The rush is more in Bengaluru and Chennai routes. Additional services were run to Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad on Friday and will continue in the next two or three days according to the demand, said assistant traffic manager of APSRTC Bhaskar Reddy.

Already instructions have been given to introduce a new service once the reservations cross 70 per cent in a particular service. “Most passengers come for spot reservation as their darshan time was uncertain. So we cannot run the services without knowing the demand. On August 15, huge rush is expected and we are taking every step to meet the situation,” he said.

Incidentally, the city is likely to witness more influx on August 15 as the state government is conducting officials Independence Day celebrations at the temple town.

The pilgrims who were going to Tirumala were facing a tough time as the traffic went haywire in the city for the last two days. The entire police force was engaged in the Independence Day arrangements and only skeletal staff is discharging their duties in other beats in the city. The unruly attitude of auto drivers is making the traffic problem worse.

A passenger who got down from RTC bus from Tirumala said it took 40 minutes from Tirumala to Alipiri and from there to RTC bus stand it took more than 30 minutes. The heavy rain on Sunday morning made the situation worse with water flooding the roads at many places like West Church, Tiruchanoor circle and other low-lying areas. Citizens were caught in the traffic jams for most of the time on Sunday.