Post lockdown, Tirumala temple records 15.35% drop in footfall

“It was heartening to note that not even a single devotee who had visited the hill temple during the last one month had reported positive for COVID-19,” the TTD executive officer said.

Tirumala temple. File

The Tirumala temple has registered a 15.35% drop in footfall since its reopening to the public on June 11 after lock down.

While 37,604 of the 2,02,346 devotees, who availed the online darshan tickets, remained absent in the last one month, about 11,782 of the 97,216 devotees who availed the free offline darshan tokens issued at Tirupati did not turn up for the darshan.

The absenteeism among the devotees availing ₹300 worth online darshan tickets stood at 18.58% compared to 12.12% among the free darshan devotees.

Speaking to media, TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal on Sunday said it was heartening to note that not even a single devotee who had visited the hill temple during the last one month had reported positive for COVID-19.

The TTD has contacted about 2,643 devotees over phone after their reaching their native destinations in two phases between June 18 to 25 and July 1 to 7 but fortunately none of them have reported any infections so far.

The only dispiriting fact is that about 91 employees working at Tirumala have tested positive to the virus, he said.

The temple hundi which has registered an income of ₹16.73 crore during the last one month also netted 20 gold biscuits each weighing about 100 grams on Saturday.

Mr. Singhal said that the management will soon release a white paper with regard to the details of all its landed properties scattered across the country. This, he said, has become imperative on the part of the management to keep an end to all kinds of baseless speculations and to protect the image of the institution.

With regard to the conduct of the annual Tirumala Brahmotsavams, he said there is still time and a final decision on the modalities will be taken in accordance with the then prevailing conditions. But as a precautionary measure tenders have already been invited for taking up required works. Brushing aside the conjectures with regard to the financial viability of the prestigious institution, he said the conditions for the present is safe and sound.