Tirumala temple stays open amid curbs

TEMPLE OFFICIALS SAID THEY HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING STRINGENT RULES, INCLUDING MANDATORY, NEGATIVE RT-PCR REPORT, FOR ENTRY

HYDERABAD: The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has imposed a partial lockdown for 18 hours a day to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state, but the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which manages the famous temple of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala in Chittoor district, continues to remain open for pilgrims.

Though TTD suspended “Sarva Darshanam” (free darshan of the deity) for pilgrims with effect from April 12 in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases, it has been allowing darshan for pilgrims who purchase “special darshan tickets” for ₹300 apiece.

Last year, TTD, for the first time ever, shut down the Tirumala temple for pilgrims due to outbreak of Covid-19. The shutdown of the temple which began on March 19, 2020, continued up to June 8. The daily rituals for the presiding deity, however, continued with a limited number of priests. The temple reopened for pilgrims on June 9.

Since June last year, TTD restricted the number of pilgrims visiting the temple for free darshan because of stringent Covid-19 restrictions. Initially, it used to issue 3,000-4,000 Sarva Darshanam tokens every day, as against the average footfall of 65,000-70,000 pilgrims a day.

Gradually, it increased the number of tokens to 22,000 during weekdays and around 25,000 during the weekends in March this year, but then, the second wave struck. “In April, when the second wave of Covid-19 struck the state, the number of tokens was restricted to an average of 15,000-20,000 a day,” a TTD spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

Despite the severity of the second wave of Covid-19, TTD, for its own reasons, did not close down the temple , notwithstanding the partial lockdown being implemented by the state government, which also suspended bus services to Tirumala.

“Last year, there was a nationwide lockdown and the state, too, had to follow it strictly. Hence, the temple was forced to close down. This time, there are no such restrictions. The state government, too, has not issued any guidelines on the closure of temples in the state,” the TTD spokesman said.

He said only those pilgrims who were coming to Tirumala in their own vehicles were being allowed for darshan. “Moreover, we have been following stringent Covid-19 rules, including the mandatory negative RT-PCR report, wearing of masks and maintenance of social distance. There have been no cases of Covid-19 in pilgrims on Tirumala,” the spokesman said.

However, the fear of Covid-19 and strict enforcement of lockdown rules by the police in the last one week led to the drastic fall in the number of pilgrims many of whom had booked their special darshan tickets online well in advance.

According to TTD authorities, only 71,000 pilgrims had a darshan of Lord Venkateshwara between May 1 and 12. This is just a day’s footfall from the prepandemic period.

“On Wednesday, only 2,262 pilgrims visited the temple, the lowest footfall of in the history of Tirumala,” the TTD spokesman said.

TTD announced that those who had booked special darshan tickets but could not visit Tirumala due to pandemic between April 11 and May 31, can change their darshan date to anytime within the next year.