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| Tirumala temple. (Photo: DC) |
Tirupati: The TTD proposal to streamline darshan at
Tirumala has hit a roadblock. The temple administration, which said it
focused its attention on reducing the waiting time in the queue for
devotees, introduced Internet and e-darshan quota for Rs 300 a few
months ago.
Soon after its introduction, the temple administration
began increasing the number of tickets issued under the Internet and
e-Darshan quota while the current booking quota under which tickets are
issued to devotees on a first come first serve basis was gradually
reduced to a small number. Though this has actually served the purpose
by reducing the waiting time in the queues, those who reach Tirumala
without an advanced booking (internet or e-darshan) and want to have the
darshan, through a Rs 300 special entry, are denied an opportunity
because the administration streamlined the systems.
Besides this,
another decision of the TTD, which is drawing flak from the visiting
devotees in the recent times, is the cancellation of 'Divya darshan'
during the weekends. The very reason this darshan format was introduced
by the TTD a few years ago was to ensure a seperate darshan queue line
existed for those devotees who trek up the Tirumala hills along the two
pedestrian routes of Alipiri and 'Srivari Mettu' as a mark of
reciprocation to their devotion.
But as the pilgrim crowds
trekking up the hills shot up after TTD linked a provision for darshan
for the trekking devotees, TTD took a decision recently to suspend
issuance of 'Divya darshan' tickets to the trekking devotees during the
weekends when crowds go up. But with the curbs being imposed by the TTD
during weekends, pilgrims are literally left with just two options for
the darshan of Lord Venkateswara which are the 'Sarvadarshan' and the Rs
50 darshan systems and as such serpentine queuelines have yet again
become the order of the day at Tirumala, which is drawing criticism for
the temple administration from the devotees at large.
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