The Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD) is reopening darshan for local devotees from the 11th of June.
The famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala would be open for only staff and employees of the TTD, as the management decided to conduct a three day trial.
After the successful trial, the TTD temple would be open for darshan to devotees from the 11h of June.
On the 5th of June, the TTD authorities announced the same, saying the management took the decision considering the situation of overcrowding and maintaining social distancing .
Y.V. Subba Reddy, the Chairman of the TTD Trust Board, addressed a press conference and said initially, the management would allow only 6,000 to 7,000 devotees per day.
Previously, in a day 10 times more, nearly 60,000 to 70,000 devotees would visit the temple.
Dividing on an hourly basis, only 500 devotees would be allowed in an hour, maintaining social distancing norms till 7:30 P.M.
Besides, people above 65 years and children below 10 years and people from containment zones would not be allowed into the temple.
AK Singhal, the Executive Officer of the TTD, said every day, only 3,000 tickets for darshan would be sold and devotees would be screened at Alipiri, the starting point of the hill route. The online tickets for June would be sold on the 8th of June.
While 3,000 would be sold online, remaining 3,000 offline tickets would be issued at the counters at Alipiri check point every day. VIP darshan would be allowed from June 11 for only an hour, from 6:30 A.M., to 7:30 A.M..
Speaking about the vehicles, the TTD management assured sanitisation of vehicles at Alipiri check-point before being allowed on to the hill while barricades to maintain queues. The officials also urged devotees not to touch hundis (boxes for offerings.)
The Anna Prasadam section would also have a limited number of devotees.
With all the above arrangements, the TTD would open after 2 months of the nationwide lockdown from the 11th of June for
Stay tuned for further updates.
