Long lines, packed halls: TTD asks people to postpone trips after weekend rush in Tirupati

Tirupati: Queues extended for over 2 km in Tirupati as lakhs of devotees thronged the temple this summer weekend. As it is the weekend and vacation, 29 halls (compartments) were packed with devotees and it took at least 48 hours for Sarva Darshan. The lines extended till the Asthana Mandapam. According to the officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), this weekend rush is more than the numbers witnessed during Garuda Seva and Vykunta Ekadasi, which usually sees more devotees visiting Tirumala.

A month ago, there was a similar situation when a video of lakhs of devotees and children facing trouble in the queue lines when there was a stampede-like situation went viral. To avoid such scenes, strict security was in place and medical assistance was made available for those who fell sick due to the heatwave.

Meanwhile, TTD executive officer A.V Dharma Reddy had asked the public to postpone their trips to Tirupati until the rush subsides. The TTD could only provide darshan for 4,500 devotees per hour and said it would take two days to provide darshan to all the devotees in the queue. TTD has also decided to cancel VIP darshan for two days until the rush is cleared.

Arrangements made in queue lines

Witnessing the rush of devotees and facing their ire for not providing proper facilities, the executive officer directed all officials to step up facilities for the devotees in the queue lines and provide drinking water, milk, and Anna Prasadam.

Poor quality prasadam

After several complaints from devotees about the poor quality of laddus (prasadam) provided at Tirupati, TTD chairman Y.V Subba Reddy made a surprise inspection of the marketing godown located on Hare Krishna Road in the city. He found that the company they had contracted was providing poor-quality cashew nuts. The cashews were broken and dusty.

Mr. Subba Reddy directed the marketing department officials to cancel the cashew supply contract of one of the three companies. He also found that the cardamom supplied for TTD lacked a natural aroma and asked officials to send the sample to the government laboratory to verify its quality. Even the ghee supplied was found to be of poor quality. According to the TTD officials, they spend Rs. 500 crore to purchase cashew, ghee, and cardamom every year to prepare prasadam (laddu) in Tirumala temple.