Tirupati:
Amid strict COVID-19 precautionary steps, the Lord Venkateswara shrine was thrown open on Thursday for all devotees after a over 80-day coronavirus lockdown entry ban, but only a few thousands were present in view of the curbs in place following the pandemic. Earlier, the TTD that manages the 2000-year-old hill shrine had conducted a three-day successful trial run of darshan with its own staff and others attached to it.
At the crack of dawn today, about 7,000 people, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, lined up for darshan of the Lord maintaining six-feet distance and temple staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) suits regulated the face mask clad-devotees who were subjected to thermal screening and whose Aadhaar cards were checked. As part of the precautionary measures,they were allowed to offer their prayers to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateshwara from a distance of about 100 feet in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple complex, a temple official told PTI.
About 3000 devotees had purchased Rs.300 special entry darshan tickets online. A total of 500 tickets were purchased online by devotees from New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, and West Bengal but it is not known if they were able to reach Andhra Pradesh and the hills and it would be known only tonight or tomorrow, he said.
TTD Board Chairman YV Subba Reddy told reporters that the temple was thrown open for devotees today after the entry ban was imposed on March 20 due to the pandemic. Very stringent preacautionary measures have also been put in place even at the sprawling Sri Venkateshwara Kalyana Katta complex (tonsuring facility) where the devotees, in accordance with tradition, get their heads tonsured as part of fulfillment of their vow, the chairman said.
He said if things go well, the TTD would take a call to increase a “bit more” the number of pilgrims from the current 7,000 devotees being allowed. Before the entry ban was enforced on March 20, over 60,000 devotees used to throng the shrine daily.
