
TTD additional EO inspects queue lines as waiting time for Darshan stretches upto 18 hours at Tirumala
While 71,721 pilgrims had Darshan at the Tirumala temple on Friday, close to 90,000 pilgrims were scheduled to have their Darshan on Saturday. With the summer vacations drawing to an end in June, Tirumala remained in the grip of an unprecedented pilgrim rush, especially in the last few days.
As serpentine queue lines became the order of the day, pilgrims were seen waiting with their families in the queue lines, which stretched up to Silathoranam.
TTD Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Choudary inspected the outside queue lines at Tirumala on Saturday.
During his inspections, Venkaiah Choudary interacted with the pilgrims and sought their feedback on the supply of food and other refreshments to them while they were in the queue lines. He personally checked the quality of free food being distributed to the devotees.
Later, the additional EO directed the TTD's Annaprasadam department to ensure round-the-clock supply of drinking water, milk, food, etc.,
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to reduce the inconvenience caused to the devotees while they were waiting in the queue lines.
The sanitation and health department was instructed to keep the toilets clean 24/7 for the convenience of the pilgrims.
Meanwhile, Venkaiah Choudary directed the temple staff to speed up Darshan inside the temple complex so that the waiting time for Darshan comes down at least marginally.
He also instructed the vigilance and security department sleuths to keep a strong tab on the pilgrim movements in the queue lines and at other high pilgrim congregation points at Tirumala.
TTD Additional EO told reporters that the Devasthanams was following the instructions of Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to facilitate Darshan for more common devotees. Hence, the VIP break Darshan on recommendation letters was cancelled till July 15 to cope with the heavy influx of pilgrims during the summer season.
Venkaiah Choudary took strong exception to the manner in which some mischievous elements were resorting to false propaganda against the TTD in a bid to defame the institution.
'TTD will initiate legal proceedings against all those involved in malicious campaigns against the Tirupati trust,' the additional EO warned.
'Yesterday, a devotee raised slogans complaining about the non-supply of food and other refreshments in the queue lines. When we reached out to the devotee, he retracted his statement by claiming that he made false accusations as he was waiting in the queue lines for long. He himself confirmed that food and other refreshments were continuously being distributed to the devotees in the queue lines. But the entire episode was portrayed in a completely different manner to defame TTD, and such actions will not be spared,' Venkaiah Choudary warned.

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