The sacred hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara on Saturday reeled under the impact of the unprecedented turnout of pilgrims.
The inflow of pilgrims was so much that the dharma darshan queue lines meant for ordinary pilgrims stretched beyond the massive Vaikuntam queue complex to a couple of kilometres since morning.
Special entry tickets
Taken aback by the unusual surge in the number of pilgrims, management officials who were subjected to sitting on tenterhooks since Friday evening, immediately started issuing Rs. 300 special entry tickets since morning.
As many as 5,000 tickets was issued within an hour of opening of the ticket counters.
The management also restricted the issuance of Divya darshan ticket tokens (issued half-way on the footpath leading to Tirumala) to 15,000 thereby allocating more darshan hours to common pilgrims.
Protest
In another friendly initiative, the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams (TTD) also dispensed with, the VIP break darshan on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees staged a protest at the Sri vari mettu footpath demanding the release of Divya darshan tokens.
Tense situation
It was only after the intervention of the TTD’s Additional CVSO Siva Kumar Reddy, who immediately rushed to the spot, and explained to the agitating devotees about the tumultuous situation atop the temple town besides the tribulations of the TTD staff members who were working round-the-clock to meet their requirements, that the situation was brought under control.
Long wait
While the sarva darshan queue lines demanded a staggering wait of over twenty two hours, the waiting time at Kalyanakatta also consumed couple of hours and things were no different at the cottage allotment counters.
