The Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam will conduct Srivari Kalyana utsavam from 6 p.m. on April 16 at Island Grounds. The idols of Sri Venkateswaraswamy, Sridevi and Bhoodevi will be brought from Tirumala, TTD Chairman Y. V. Subba Reddy said here on Sunday. Entry will be free.
Speaking to reporters after conducting Bhoomi Puja, he said Srivari Kalyanam was being performed in Chennai after 14 years. The 33-acre ground can accommodate about 1.5 lakh people at a time, which is the number of devotees expected to attend the Tirukalyanam. “People have not been able to visit Tirumala for over two years now which is why the TTD has planned the utsavam on such a large scale. Chairs would be arranged for senior citizens and the entire ground will be carpeted,” he said.
The idols would be placed on a ramp and taken in a procession in the middle so that everyone can have darshan. All devotees will be provided with one laddu, a water bottle, a fruit and a Govinda Namavali booklet, he added.
Entry to the grounds would be from Anna Salai side. The TTD plans to hold similar utsavams at Kanniyakumari, Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore.
More tickets sought
Sandeep Nanduri, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), said that there was an increase in demand for daily darshan tickets to Tirupati.
The TTDC gets 150 tickets a day priced at ₹300 each from the TTD. “We have requested the TTD to increase the number of tickets and they have agreed to provide 1,000 tickets a day,” he said. TTD local area committee president A.J. Sekhar Reddy was present.
