Tirumala witnesses huge surge in pilgrim turnout

TIRUPATI: The abode of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala witnessed a huge surge in devotees on Tuesday. All compartments in the Vaikuntam queue complexes were packed to capacity and devotees had to wait in long queues to have darshan.

While all the pilgrim accommodation counters at Tirumala have put up ‘no vacancy’ boards, it was taking nearly 10-12 hours for pilgrims to have sarva darshan (free darshan).

As many as 74,930 devotees had a glimpse of the Lord on Monday. On Tuesday, up to 6pm, over 60,000 pilgrims had darshan, while over 20,000 devotees were waiting in the queues.

Heavy pilgrim influx is being anticipated from this weekend due to the holidays from August 11-15. TTD has appealed to pilgrims to cooperate with the temple administration and plan their darshan and accommodation well in advance.

Though the summer rush has come down, the weekend rush coupled with festive holidays would continue till August 19. The pilgrim rush is expected to be heavy in the coming days due to the auspicious month of Peratasi which commences from September 18 and will last till October 17.

TTD has appealed to senior citizens, the differently abled, those with chronic diseases and parents with infants to plan their Tirumala pilgrimage after the Peratasi month.

Pilgrims will be allowed darshan only in their specified time and they must come fully prepared to  wait for long hours in the compartments and in queue lines, TTD said.