Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Pilgrims continue to throng Tirumala

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUMALA OCT 3. It is as if there is no sign of any `decline' in the number of pilgrims thronging the sacred Hill Temple of Lord Venkateswara, Tirumala.

The crowd, which was at its peak on the `Garuda seva' day (October 1), is expected to continue for another couple of days. The `influx' of pilgrims is so heavy, that the waiting time for `Sudarshan' token holders is extends up to 64 hours. Any devotee, who wishes to have the Sudarshan token this evening, is allotted the darshan time on Monday morning.

With regard to the `free darshan' the situation is no different. The waiting time for the pilgrims opting to have `Dharma darshan' also is running beyond 55 hours. The free darshan Vaikuntam queue complex is full to its capacity and the queue lines stretch to a couple of kilometres outside the queue complex.

The temple town is buzz with the pilgrim traffic for the past three days. The traffic police are having a difficult time. The festival atmosphere, which was lost with the abortive attempt by ultras on the life of the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, on the `Garuda Seva' day, is coming back which is indicated by the steady increase in the crowd. Is expected to swell further this night, with the `Rathotsavam' festival of the Lord on Saturday morning.

The TTD officials were seen running from pillar to post, meeting the demands of the visiting public.

The TTD Executive Officer, Ajeya Kallam, who is camping at Tirumala, for the past one week is personally supervising the arrangements besides ordering for cancellation of both the `break darshan' and `cellar entry' permission, which is normally meant to facilitate the VIP's visiting the Hill temple.

Mr. Kallam also ordered for suspension of the `laddu padi' ticket permission by various top TTD officers for the benefit of the visiting pilgrims.

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