TTD plans to reduce devotees’ wait time for darshan from 20-30 to 2-3 hours

Hyderabad: The long wait times to receive darshan at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala may soon be reduced from 20-30 hours to 2-3 hours, with the help of expert advice on artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technology. This is one of the decisions taken by the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) board in its maiden meeting under the chairmanship of B R Naidu on Monday, November 18.

After the completion of the board meeting at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala, the TTD board chief along with executive officer J Syamala Rao briefed the media on the decisions that were made. Some excerpts:

The SRIVANI Trust will be merged with the TTD Account and the possibilities of changing its name while continuing the scheme will be verified.

The Tourism Corporations Darshan quota of various states will be dispensed with, after a thorough examination of the complaints regarding irregularities in the issue of Special Entry Darshan (SED) tickets under this category.

The piled up debris in the Dumping Yard at Tirumala will be cleared within 3-4 months.

The Srinivasa Setu Flyover will be renamed as Garuda Varadhi.

The state government will be urged to hand over the 20 acres of land given to Tourism at Alipiri near the Devlok Project to TTD.

A letter will be written to the state government seeking appropriate decision about the non-Hindus working in Tirumala.

Darshan will be provided to Tirupati locals on the first Tuesday of every month.

Action will be taken against people who make political statements at Tirumala and those who propagate them.

Keeping in view the safety of TTD deposits, a decision will be taken in the next board meeting to withdraw deposits from private banks and take them to nationalised banks instead.

The ghee used in the preparation of Srivari Laddu will be of enhanced quality.

One more tasty recipe would be introduced for the devotees in the every-day menu at Annaprasadam Complex in Tirumala.

The lease of the Visakha Sarada Peetham mutt will be cancelled for violating the rules of the TTD.

The repairs of leakages in the age-old Potu temple kitchen at the Srivari temple, along with the modernisation of the Vengamamba Annaprasadam Complex, will be taken up by the TVS company.

A 10% hike has been approved in the Bahumanam of employees who rendered special services during the annual Brahmotsavam of Tirumala Srivari Temple held from October 4th to 13th this year. The amount will be Rs 15,400 for regular employees and Rs 7,535 for outsouricing employees.