Heavy devotee rush was witnessed at the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala on September 30, the second Saturday of the Tamil Peratasi month. The darshan queue lines stretched over 5 km after circumambulating the Narayanagiri gardens here, and the waiting time for the darshan for those without tokens crossed over 48 hours. Both the queue complexes at the shrine were full to their capacity.
According to officials, the string of holidays till October 2nd is also a reason for the heavy rush. In a move to reduce the rush, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has cancelled the issuance of Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) tokens on October 1, 7, 8, 14 and 15.
As part of crowd management measures, senior officials from Tirupati were deputed at the temple town to ensure an uninterrupted supply of free food packets and drinking water.
About 2,500 Srivari seva volunteers were deployed to cater to the needs of the pilgrims waiting in the darshan lines. They also served at the laddu counters, luggage counters, reception, kalyanakatta and other points where the congregation of pilgrims was large.
Meanwhile, in Tirupati, all the parking lots were full. Private bus operators, left with no other option, parked their vehicles on either side of the road from Alipiri to SV Vedic University.
