The famous temple of Lord Venkateshwara on the Tirumala hills in Andhra Pradesh will be thrown open for darshan to the general public from across the country from June 11 but with stringent restrictions in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
“We shall conduct a trial with employees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on June 8 and 9 and with local people on Tirumala hills on June 10. From the next day, the temple will be thrown open for common devotees,” TTD trust board chairman YV Subba Reddy told reporters.
According to Reddy, the Tirumala temple will remain open for darshan of the Lord between 6.30 am and 7.30 pm every day. On an average, 500 pilgrims will be allowed in the queue at any point of time during this period.
Approximately, 6,000-7,000 devotees can have darshan every day, which is around one-tenth of the footfall during normal days. The temple was closed on March 19 ahead of the nationwide lockdown.
“No darshan would be allowed for senior citizens above 65 years of age and children below 10 years. Similarly, people coming from containment zones are also barred from entering the temple and their credentials would be verified at Alipiri, the foothills of the Tirumala,” Reddy said.
The temple will release 3,000 darshan tokens every day. Another 3,000 offline tickets will be issued at the counters in Alipiri check point, the entrance to the hill. Online tickets for the month of June will be released on June 8.
The queue lines will be sanitised once in every two hours. Devotees will not be given Satari (Blessing with symbolic representation of the Lord’s feet placed on the devotee’s head) and Theertham (holy water).
Every devotee would be subjected to thermal screening and some would be taken for random Covid-19 tests. Wearing of face masks and maintaining six feet distance between any two persons at any point are mandatory. “The devotees will not be allowed to take bath in Srivari Pushkarini (holy tank of the temple) and have darshan of other associated temples on the hills,” he said.
Reddy said there would be one-hour break darshan for VIPs from 6.30 am every day. Vehicles will be sanitised at Alipiri check point before being allowed on to the hill.
With regard to accommodation for pilgrims on the hills, the TTD chairman said only two persons would be allowed to stay in one room in the TTD guest houses. Stay cannot be extended beyond one day. “No permission will be given to private hotels and guest houses,” Reddy said.
The temple administration is yet to decide on running the tonsuring facility. Tonsuring is one of the important offerings by devotees visiting Tirumala hill shrine.
The TTD chairman requested devotees not to touch the Hundis (offerings boxes). The pilgrims would have to go through a herbal sanitisation chamber to approach Hundi where they could drop money without touching it.
Anna Prasadam (food) section will have limited number of devotees. Laddu Prasadam counters will be changed every two hours for sake of sanitisation.
Meanwhile, the temple administration has decided to stop door delivery of laddus that was introduced recently. The temple has been selling laddus at half the price for the last two weeks.
Source: HindustanTimes