Tirumala Rush Continues, Darshan Wait Crosses 24 Hours
Heavy summer pilgrim inflow puts pressure on TTD arrangements: Reports
TIRUPATI: Tirumala continued to witness a massive influx of pilgrims on Friday, with devotees waiting for more than 24 hours for the darshan of Lord Venkateswara amid heavy summer rush.
TTD officials said more than 50,000 devotees had darshan by 6 pm, while thousands of pilgrims remained in queue lines stretching beyond the Vaikuntam Queue Complex up to the outer ring road, covering nearly 2 to 3 km. Tirumala had recorded a footfall of 79,603 devotees for darshan on Thursday.
The continuous inflow of pilgrims has placed severe pressure on accommodation, queue management and other services being provided by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). Though extensive arrangements have been made, managing long waiting hours in the summer heat has emerged as a major challenge for the temple administration.
Despite repeated appeals by the TTD asking elderly people and parents with infants to postpone their visit during the peak rush period, large numbers of such devotees continued to arrive in Tirumala. Besides pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring southern states, devotees from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and several northern states were also seen in large numbers.
TTD additional executive officer Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary and Tirupati superintendent of police L. Subba Rayudu jointly inspected the queue lines, traffic regulation measures and amenities being provided to pilgrims. They interacted with devotees and reviewed the arrangements on the ground.
Srivari Sevaks were deployed across the queue lines to distribute drinking water and annaprasadam to devotees waiting for darshan.
