Devotees stage protest in Tirupati

TIRUPATI: Devotees on a pilgrimage to Tirumala created a flutter for a while near Srinivasam complex in Tirupati Friday morning. Denouncing the TTD’s decision to remove the issue of Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) tickets from current booking to online, the devotees staged a protest. They were unhappy when they were not allowed inside the complex by the security staff.

When they wanted to know why they were denied an entry to get SSD tickets, the staff at the counter clarified that the offline issue of free darshan tickets had been stopped. The disappointed devotees had an argument with the staff and later staged a protest.

Following this, the TTD vigilance and security staff and local police rushed to the spot and tried to pacify them. The situation was brought under control after some time.

It may be noted that the TTD chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy on Wednesday made an announcement that they would stop issuing offline SSD tokens in Tirupati from Saturday onwards.