Curbs on Tirumala footpaths to continue

 

Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman, Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, made it clear on Friday that the time restrictions for children under age 12 would be relaxed only after a nod from the forest department.

 

“We will do this only after the forest department confirms there are no threats from wild animals along the Alipiri footpath route,” he said here.

The statement came during the ongoing heavy pilgrim rush in Tirumala since Thursday evening, which continued throughout the weekend. On Monday, the chairman personally inspected the queue lines from Gogarbham Circle to Krishna Teja Guest House Circle, to make sure that the devotees were receiving all the essential facilities such as food, drinking water and soft drinks.

The TTD chairman said the number of devotees visiting Tirumala had significantly increased over the past four days, primarily due to the sacred Puratasi month and the series of holidays. The queue lines were extending up to 5km. “In response, TTD cancelled VIP break, Supatham and the time-slotted sarva darshan tokens to facilitate quick darshan for the common devotees,” he stated.

“Despite the long queues, pilgrims expressed their satisfaction with the facilities and arrangements,” the TTD chairman said.

He said TTD was gearing up for the upcoming Navratri Brahmotsavam from October 15 to 23, when a heavy arrival of devotees was expected. He praised the services provided by TTD staff during the past four days under the guidance of EO Dharma Reddy, JEO Veerabrahmam and CVSO Narasimha Kishore.