Pilgrims seeking darshan at the Lord Venkateswara temple have urged the Tirumala Tirupati Devestahanams (TTD) to relax the restriction imposed on trekking the foot paths leading to the hill shrine.
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At present, only the devotees with valid tickets are allowed to trek the footpaths to the shrine either a day in advance or on the same day of their scheduled darshan.
Those with plans to visit to other temples in and around the Chittoor district are worried a lot, as they are either forced to alter their travel itinerary or skip one of the places owing to the restrictions on trekking the footpaths.
After the lockdown imposed owing to the coronavirus was lifted, devotees preferred reaching the sacred town in the appropriate hours and embark on their return journey soon after the darshan at the hill shrine.
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The phase-wise lifting of COVID restrictions, coupled with the gradual increase in the number of devotees allowed for darshan at Tirumala, has the devotees included other temples such as Sri Kalahasti, Kanipakkam and golden temple in Vellore in their travel itinerary, even if it means adding a few days to their pilgrimage schedule.
Mr. Srinivas Rao from Visakhapatnam, who came to Tirumala along with his family, said their three-day travel plan was upset as they were not allowed to trek the footpath leading to the temple on the same day only for the reason that their darshan slot was scheduled on the final day of their itinerary.
“Everything went awry owing to the little known restriction that eventually forced us to reschedule our entire schedule,” he said.
Ananth from Bidar also echoed the same view and urged the TTD to allow the devotees to trek they footpath at least two days in advance of their scheduled darshan.
COVID protocols
TTD CVSO Gopinath Jatti told the The Hindu that the restrictions were imposed as part of the COVID protocols. “The intention is to avoid overcrowding in the temple town. Some relaxations may be considered only after the pandemic weakens further,” he said.