The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) had to close down the slotted sarva darshan counters in Tirupati downhill and provide unrestricted entry to devotees to the Tirumala hills after crowds swelled beyond control.
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Carrying the token is mandatory for a devotee to reach Tirumala, a rule which was imposed not only to regulate the crowds but to also ensure orderly entry in tune with COVID-19 protocols. With the unexpected surge in devotees proving too much to handle, the TTD management was forced to suspend the rule, keeping in view the safety of the devotees.
Braving scorching heat, devotees who had congregated from across the country were standing in the sarva darshan queue lines at the Alipiri link bus station, Govindaraja choultries and Srinivasam complex in the city on Tuesday morning. As the queue lines had no roofing, the devotees were profusely sweating due to prolonged exposure to the hot sun. With the jampacked queue line moving at a snail’s pace, many devotees apparently lost their patience and resorted to jostling, leaving over a dozen persons, mainly women, children and the aged, mildly injured.
People intending to walk out of the queue line were also apparently not given such an option, leading to a stampede-like situation.
It was then that the TTD top brass stepped in and lifted the curbs on entry to Tirumala. As part of its damage mitigation exercise, an announcement was made to close down all the three token issuing counters and instead provide unrestricted access to the devotees to Tirumala. The authorities apparently missed taking note of the slowly yet steadily rising footfall, which was attributed to the summer holidays as well as the nationwide relaxation in COVID-19 norms. The VIP break darshan has also been suspended from Wednesday for a week to accommodate the crowd.