Tirumala gears up for Garuda Seva

Tirupati: Tirumala is geared up for the Garuda Seva to be held on Wednesday. TTD authorities have made elaborate arrangements as they expect around three lakh devotees to witness the vahana seva which will begin at 7.30 pm on Wednesday.

Devotees start reaching the galleries from the morning itself. Tirumala JEO KS Sreenivasa Raju directed the officials to take every precaution to ensure that the common devotees were not put to hardships on this occasion.

Highlights:

• Around three lakh devotees to witness the Vahana Seva which will begin at 7.30 pm on Wednesday
• 25 Body Worn Cameras will be utilised in the areas where there is huge congregation of crowd and possibility of movement of anti-social elements
• Meanwhile, to decorate Lord Malayappa Swamy on Garuda Seva, the garlands worn by Sri Villiputtur Goda Devi have reached Tirumala

During his daily review at the police control room near Rambagicha rest house, the JEO said that water and butter milk packets, besides food, tiffin and milk for kids should be adequately supplied not only at the mada streets but also in the food counters located all over Tirumala.

He directed officials to not leave their designated locations and the vigilance and police should coordinate their plans in view of heavy rush of devotees. Drinking water should be made available even in the corridors of Vaikuntam queue complex. All in charges of the eight sectors in Tirumala should also coordinate their action plans, he advised.

Technology has been fully adopted for crowd management and Body Worn Cameras will be used to curtail the movement of anti-social elements, said the TTD CVSO Ake Ravikrishna. Speaking to reporters at the Media Centre in Tirumala on Tuesday, he said about 25 Body Worn Cameras have been purchased and they will be utilised in the areas where there is huge

congregation of crowd and possibility of movement of anti-social elements. He said five entry and exit points from mada streets were fully monitored through the Command Centre and about 400 home guards, 40 senior police officials have been deployed exclusively for Garuda Seva.

The Dy EO, (Annaprasadam) Venugopal said, they are ready to supply around 5.7 lakh meals to the devotees who come for the celestial event.

Three lakh packets of butter milk have also been stocked to serve devotees and a 10,000 strong contingent of police, scouts, employees etc were ready. 'We normally get 5-6 tonnes of vegetables but we expect about 10 tonnes for the Garuda Seva day' he said.

Sanitation and hygiene have been given top priority in the run up to Garuda seva event said Health Officer of TTD, Dr Sermista. Nearly 2600 sanitary workers have been deployed for clearance of garbage, cleaning toilets, roads, four mada streets and also rest houses for Garuda Seva and Rathotsavam.

Meanwhile, to decorate Lord Malayappa Swamy on Garuda Seva, the garlands worn by Sri VilliputturGoda Devi have reached Tirumala. They were first brought to PeddaJeeyangar mutt. Pooja was performed to them by Jeeyangars. EO AK Singhal was present.

Later, they were taken into the temple. Similarly, Hindu DharmardhaSamithi of Chennai has brought 11 new umbrellas to be used in the processions. Of them two were given at Tiruchanoor temple and the remaining 9 umbrellas were handed over to TTD authorities. The Samithi gives new umbrellas every year to Sri Varu which will be used for Garuda Seva.