Navami around, yet no takers for online tickets

Navami around, yet no takers for online tickets
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Highlights

Even as the famed Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple authorities here are making all arrangements to make the Sri Rama Navami festival celebrations a spectacular event, it seems their plan to sell tickets for special pujas online does not seem to be working well.

Bhadrachalam: Even as the famed Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple authorities here are making all arrangements to make the Sri Rama Navami festival celebrations a spectacular event, it seems their plan to sell tickets for special pujas online does not seem to be working well.

There has been lukewarm response from the devotees in booking tickets online. The Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam has already put the tickets for sale online. Grand celebrations will be held in the temple town of Bharachalam. The sale of tickets online began as early as February 17, but response from the devotees is not up to the mark, according to sources. A total of 9,400 tickets in different categories are put for sale online.

Due to lack of proper publicity about the online sale, so far only 839 tickets have been sold. According to sources, out of the 625 tickets of Rs 5,000 under the Ubhayadathalu scheme, only 131 tickets have been sold, and out of another 850 VIP tickets worth Rs 5,000, only 169 tickets have been sold.

Out of the 260 tickets worth Rs 1,116 tickets, so far, they have sold 173 tickets. Out of 850 tickets worth Rs 500, only 126 tickets have been sold. They have put a total of 3,799 tickets worth Rs 200 for sale, but they could sell only 126 tickets. Out of 3,016 tickets for Lord Sri Rama Kalyanam worth Rs 100, only 38 have been sold online. The temple authorities are also selling tickets for another programme on the following day of Sri Rama Navami, Sri Rama Pattabhishekam.

The temple officers are offering tickets worth Rs 250 and Rs100 for that programme online. However, only 98 tickets were sold out of the 1,875 tickets for Sri Rama Pattabhisekham which will be held on March 27. The poor sale of online tickets is attributed to the failure of the temple authorities in giving ample publicity for those events.

This year, Sri Rama Navami (Lord Rama’s wedding day) will be conducted as per Telugu year Vilambhi Nama, the year Lord Rama was born. For thousands of devotees, the festival is so important and they celebrated it with great fervour and devotion, according to the temple priests.

They said this year the occasion was so auspicious that it occurred only after 1954. However, devotees and locals allege that the temple authorities are not focusing on the main events, though there are only 18 days left for the beginning of the festival. They allege that the Endowments Department has not yet released invitations and wall posters for the celebrations.

The temple Executive Officer K Prabhakar Srinivas, speaking to The Hans India, said the invitations and wall posters would be released on March 10 by Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy and Roads and Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswar Rao in Hyderabad.

He said the tickets sales online was going slow, but a separate counter in the temple are selling the tickets for both events. All the arrangements are being done for the smooth conduct of the festival, according to the EO.

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