Tuesday darshan for locals in TTD

Tirupati: Senior Congress MP from Narsapuram and chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust Board Kanumuri Bapiraju, has vowed to take up and implement long-term measures to mark his tenure as one of the most memorable ones in the history of the temple administration.

Speaking to this newspaper in Tirupati on Friday, the TTD chairman said that the Board had resolved to provide an opportunity of having darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala on one Tuesday every month to the locals of Tirumala, Tirupati and Tiruchanoor.

Justifying the long-pending demand of the locals of the three important spiritual centres in the district for darshan of Lord Venkat-eswara once a month, Bapiraju maintained that it was important on the part of the temple administration not to distance the locals who had been connected to the devotees and the temple for generations now.

The chairman added that Tirumala JEO, K. Srinivasa Raju, was working out the modalities to implement the decision of the Board soon.

He said that around 3,000 people would be allowed for darshan on a Tuesday each month for one hour.

This decision of the TTD Trust Board has come as a major boon for the denizens of the temple town who had even agitated for the demand in previous years.

Meanwhile, TTD is also looking to enhance the infrastructure and amenities in and around Tirupati in view of the extreme hardships faced by devotees owing to the disturbances in the region. To avoid any inconvenience to visiting devotees in case of closure of hotels and restaurants, pilgrims will not have to starve as the TTD is set to provide “anna prasadams” to the inmate devotees at TTD-run amenities complexes Srinivasam, Madhavam and Vishnu Nivasam in Tirupati.

The chairman also said that TTD was mulling to rope in battery-run cars for the convenience of aged devotees arriving at the Tirupati bus stand and railway station to reach TTD amenities complexes in Tirupati.