Tirupati: Officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, who cancelled the issuance of Divya darshan tokens to trekking devotees from Monday night, released around 4,000 tickets of Rs 300 special entry darshan for devotees on Monday, for darshan on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Tirumala hill shrine, which had witnessed an unprecedented year-end rush in the last three days, saw a dip in the pilgrim turnout at Tirumala on Monday.
According to TTD sources, 42,216 devotees had the darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala between 3 am-to-6 pm on Tuesday. With the dip in rush, the waiting time for the Sarvadarshan of Lord Venkteswara was around 13 hours.
Pilgrims were waiting for their darshan in 12 compartments, while those who trekked up the hill were waiting in six compartments and their waiting time was around eight hours.
TTD Executive Officer Dr D. Sambasiva Rao held a review with TTD officials on the arrangements for the Vaikunta Ekadasi coinciding with New Year’s day on January 1 at the TTD-run local temples.
The TTD EO directed officials to ensure that foolproof arrangements were in place at the local temples since a majority devotees who don’t get an opportunity to have darshan at Tirumala are likely to throng the TTD temples in and around Tirupati in large numbers.
