Devotee surge at Tirumala temple leads to marathon wait times

TIRUPATI: The hill town of Tirumala witnessed a massive influx of devotees at the revered Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple on Friday, resulting in thousands enduring marathon wait times of up to 24-30 hours in serpentine queue lines stretching over 5 kilometres just for a glimpse of the deity.

From Thursday evening, the Vaikuntam queue complexes and Narayanagiri were packed to capacity, with lines snaking back nearly 4-5 km from Krishna Teja Rest House all the way to the Octopus Building on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) have announced staggering waiting periods of 24-30 hours for devotees in these queues.

Matters were exacerbated on Thursday night when the lines barely moved for two hours during the Poolangi Seva rituals at the temple. Exhausted devotees struggled with the delay, some leaving the line entirely while others simply sat down unable to stand any longer. With different Arjitha Sevas, Abhishekam, and VIP breaks scheduled for early Friday morning, the suffering crowd faced even more delays in having the Lord's darshan.

Official figures state 64,115 pilgrims had darshan on Thursday, while by 6 pm Friday over 50,000 more had completed their prayers. However, thousands still waited in seemingly endless lines trailing well beyond the Vaikuntam complex through Narayanagiri gardens.

Despite the TTD's comprehensive preparations, the problem of excessively long queues persisted as a major difficulty, particularly for the elderly and young children. Srivari Sevaks provided Annadanam, water, and beverages in some queue areas, but in others pilgrims themselves distributed sustenance due to lack of volunteers.

Accommodations were also in desperate shortage, forcing many pilgrims to rest on sidewalks and open spaces around the temple town as areas like the Mada Streets, Akhilandam, Laddu Counters, Annaprasadam facilities, Bus Stand, and Lepakshi Circle overflowed with devotees. Adding to the woes, wild boars disrupted the queue on the ORR Thursday night searching for leftover food, causing panic until they departed.

As the devotee influx shows no signs of abating, the TTD faces mounting pressure to enhance queue management and amenities to ensure a smooth and comfortable pilgrimage experience for the thousands flocking to Tirumala. However, under the instructions of Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy, officers are working round-the-clock to enable a hassle-free pilgrim experience.