Hair offerings decline in Tirumala

Tirumala: Samaikyandhra agitation hit the income of Tirumala Lord Venkateswara. On any given day, 40,000 devotees offer their hair to the Lord in Tirumala. However, as a result of the agitation less than 20,000 devotees are offering their hair now.

Devotees rush has fallen drastically as they have to depend on trains only as the RTC staff are on strike.

On a normal day, there will be an influx of about 50,000 and more devotees to Tirumala. And over 30,000 devotees offer their hair to fulfill their wishes. This number increases to 40,000 during weekends. The Samaikyandhra agitation is having a great impact on the pilgrim rush to Tirumala. People are not taking the risk to travel by their own vehicles for the fear of rasta rokos by the agitators. This ultimately has an effect on the income of hundi and also that of from the tonsured hair. Sources said there are chances of selling five tonnes less hair than the total sale during the last three months.