holiday rush begins at Tirumala

Tirumala: With beginning of summer holiday season, the rush at Tirumala for the darshan of Lord Balaji has increased manifold in the last few days. Thousands of devotees descended on the temple town from Karnataka, Tamilnadu and northern states, as there were a long weekend due to holiday on Good Friday. The TTD authorities failed miserable to provide accommodation on the hills. The devotees had to wait for hours to get accommodation in the guesthouses and choultries putting women, children and old people to lot of discomfort. There were serpentine queues for all types of darshan. Even for the special darshan with Rs. 300 ticket, there was a 3 kms long queue. With the mercury soaring, devotees standing in queues had face miserable situation. The TTD employees and police allegedly cornered many rooms in the guesthouses and choultries and allotted them to their favorites. The devotees were criticised the TTD authorities for not making proper arrangements anticipating the holiday rush.