TIRUPATI: Tirumala temple which remains closed for darshan of devotees for the past two and a half months due to the lockdown has opened from today with a trial run for 100 employees. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) officials have made all arrangements for the trial run darshans starting from, June 8 at Sri Venkateswara temple in accordance with the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines.
TTD will conduct a trial run on June 8, 9 and 10 with TTD employees and some locals. TTD will allow darshan for all devotees from June 11, following the guidelines from both the central and state governments.
All the employees were seen rushing to the temple for darshan and to offer their prayers to Lord Balaji. Along with Tirupati, the darshans at Srikalahasti, Srisailam, Annavaram, Simhadri Appanna temples also started from today.
TTD has made queue arrangements for devotees to strictly follow social distancing. Marking was done to maintain at least one feet distance between devotees in the temple premises and use of masks has been made mandatory.
TTD will allow only 500 devotees per hour for the darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Every day, only six thousand devotees can avail darshan from 6.30 am in the morning, with a VIP break for an hour, followed by the devotees darshan till evening. Under the trail run, TTD employees will be allowed for darshan for two days, and locals will be allowed for darshan for one day.
On June 5, TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy and EO Anil Kumar Singhal examined the trial run and considered how many people can be sent per hour in the queue to track the movement of people in the queue.
TTD arranged for time slot token for devotees visiting Tirumala, and will not allow people who doesn’t have it. TTD will issue 3,000 tokens to devotees at Alipiri.
Over 3,000 special darshan tickets will be made available online in this month starting from June 8. The devotee can avail the opportunity to book a room in Tirumala at the time of booking the darshan slot. TTD has implemented a new policy to ensure that the room can have only two devotees and they have to vacate the room by 24 hours.
TTD is making arrangements for conducting random COVID-19 tests by collecting samples of 200 to 300 devotees at the GNC tollgate in Tirumala. Kalyanakatta employees must wear PPE kits.
TTD Darshan Rules:
►TTD employees will be allowed for darshan on June 8, 9
► Locals will be allowed for Tirumala Venkateswara Swamy darshan on June 10
► Devotees Darshan will be made available from 11
► Only 7,00 darshans will be permitted per day
► Around 3,000 people can avail the online darshan
► VIP break Darshan will be made available from morning 6.30 am to 7.30 pm
► Devotees darshan will be made available from morning 6.30 am to 7.30 pm
► Devotees walking through footsteps path to Tirumala can avail darshan from morning 6.00 to evening 4.00
► Devotees will be allowed to walk through only Alipiri steps path, no permission to walk from Srivari Metlu
►Ticket counter will be available for devotees coming through Alipiri walk path
►Testing Labs made available at Alipiri and Tirumala
► Children under 10 years and elderly above 65 years are not allowed
► Devotees will not be allowed in Pushkarini
► Masks and sanitizers are a must for darshan
►Devotees in containment zones across the country are advised not to visit Tirumala
►Vehicles will be allowed on Ghat Road from 5 am to 8 pm
►Thermal screening test is conducted at Alipiri for every devotee, vehicles and luggages will be sanitized
