Chittoor Superintendent of Police Ghattamaneni Srinivas on Thursday said more than 1,000 police personnel would be drafted for duty for Vaikunta Ekadasi on January 1 at Tirumala.
According to Mr. Srinivas, who is also the chief vigilance and security officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the festival required foolproof bandobust at the entrances to queue complexes. “We are expecting double the regular crowd this year for the event, as it is on January 1,” the officer said.
Mr. Srinivas added that the TTD would call a high-level meeting on the issue within a week. “All arrangements will be finalised after our meeting with the TTD Executive Officer. The plan of action will purely depend on the number of passes issued to various categories and types of darshan and the formation of queues,” he said.
Meanwhile, a preliminary estimate said that more than 6 lakh devotees would throng the hill shrine on the Ekadasi day.
