Tirumala witnesses heavy pilgrim rush

Tirupati: The famed Tirumala temple has been witnessing a heavy rush of pilgrims due to the summer holidays while the devotees rush is at its peak on weekends. In all 1.73 lakh pilgrims had darshan in the last two days i.e. Saturday and Sunday which is highest in the recent times. This includes 83,739 pilgrims on May 21 and 89,665 on May 22. The TTD gradually increased the number for darshan in tune with the increasing pilgrim rush.

The waiting time which was more than 20 hours as the pilgrim rush suddenly swelled on Saturday, came down to less than 10 hours on Monday, thanks to the TTD authorities more so the temple staff including the security and vigilance wing who virtually toiled round-the-clock to see that maximum number of 1.73 lakh pilgrims had darshan on the last two days, bringing the crowd situation to near normal on Monday evening with the pilgrim rush confined to the massive queue complex where all arrangements are in place for the pilgrims comfortably to wait till their turn of darshan.

Anticipating the pilgrim rush in May, the peak summer month, the TTD cancelled VIP break darshan for three days from Friday to Sunday thus helping the Tirumala temple authorities to clear the rush much to the relief of the common devotees arriving in large number daily from various far off places in the country.

According to temple sources, the income through Hundi offerings also increased to Rs 8.18 crore on these two days including Rs 4.20 crore on Saturday and Rs 3.98 crore on Sunday. The number of pilgrims who had tonsured in fulfillment of their vows was also high with 82,000 getting tonsured in the Kalyanakattas located at various places. The TTD on its part engaged additional number of Nayi-Brahmins and also kept the tonsure centres function round-the-clock to cope with the rush. The TTD also made elaborate arrangements for distribution of food, snacks and milk to the pilgrims waiting for darshan.