Heavy rush of pilgrims at Tirumala

Tirupati: Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, witnessed heavy rush of pilgrims from several parts of the country due to consecutive holidays for two days on Sunday and Monday (Christmas).

For Central government and bank employees, Saturday was also a holiday. With huge influx of pilgrims everywhere in Tirumala, big serpentine queue lines are seen for darshan, at Annadanam centre, Kalyanakatta and Central Reservation Office (CRO).

TTD authorities revealed that 90,000 pilgrims had their darshan on Sunday and by Monday afternoon all compartments in Vaikuntam Q complex were full and the queue line extended up to three kilometres outside the complex.

There have to wait for a minimum of 20 hours to get their turn of darshan. The flow of devotees was in full swing which will continue till next Monday which is the New Year day.

With Wednesday being Vaikunta Ekadasi and the next day Dwadasi, the rush will further increase as everyone prefers to visit the temple on either of those two days so that they can go through the Vaikunta Dwaram which will be kept open only on this occasion during an year.

It will be followed by Saturday, Sunday and January 1. It was taking six hours for darshan for pilgrims reaching Tirumala by trekking while under special entry it was taking above 8 hours.

As many as 46,000 devotees tonsured their hair on Saturday and the TTD has secured a hundi collection of Rs 3.84 crore. TTD authorities on their part were making elaborate arrangements of serving ‘Anna Prasadam’, drinking water and milk for children in the compartments and at the stretched queue lines.

Already the VIP break darshan was cancelled during these days except for those who come under protocol category with a view to bring down the darshan time to the minimum possible. Srivari Sevaks have been deployed at all important places to streamline the pilgrims.

On the other hand, devotees were having a tough time as they could not get any accommodation. They have to sleep in the queue lines itself or at the open places only in this winter season. Especially, children and aged people had a tough time in the severe cold on the hills.

Meanwhile, famous temples around Tirupati were also getting huge flow of pilgrims. Sri Kalahasti, Kanipakam, Tiruchanoor temples receiving large number of pilgrims.

In Sri Kalahasti, at least 60000 devotees had darshan of Vayulingeswara Swamy on Monday. It is taking more than four hours for the devotees to complete darshan under normal queue line.  As the rush is about to increase further in the next few days, the temple management is taking all steps to provide smooth darshan as far as possible.