The TTD on Tuesday resolved to temporarily close down all its Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) counters at Tirumala.
The temple town has been reeling under the impact of unprecedented pilgrim rush in the four days. Summer holidays, coupled with declaration of results of various competitive examinations, has led to huge congregation of the pilgrims.
The TTD, which had taken note of the growing absenteeism among the pilgrims availing of the SSD tokens, decided to address the anomaly as it was resulting in stagnation of waiting hours. The SSD system enables the pilgrims to report at the Vaikuntham complex at the pre-designated time mentioned on the token without waiting in the queue compartments.
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A decision with regard to revival of the system will be announced soon after things fall in line. However, the SSD counters in Tirupati will function as usual.
Giving the statistics, Tirumala-based TTD JEO K.S. Srinivasa Raju said, while 5.43 lakh pilgrims had obtained SSD tokens since its introduction on May 3, only 4.02 lakh pilgrims turned up for darshan, thus registering an absenteeism of 24%. Similarly, there was 7% absenteeism among the pilgrims availing of the ₹300 special entry darshan and divya darshan tokens.
All these factors have led to long waiting hours, which, at present, is put around 50. Another interesting factor is that, while about two-thirds of the pilgrims had obtained the token at Tirumala, only one-third obtained it at Tirupati.
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“It is for these reasons the management has decided to suspend the SSD tokens counters at Tirumala,” Mr. Raju said.