TTD EO inspects facilities for devotees in Tirumala

Tirumala: TTD EO Dr KS Jawahar Reddy along with Additional EO A V Dharma Reddy and CVSO Narasimha Kishore made an extensive inspection at Tirumala to gear up the temple administration to cope with the heavy rush of pilgrims and also to get feedback from devotees on the pilgrim services being provided by TTD including timely hassle-free darshan, free distribution of food and cleanliness. In the queue complex, which is brimming with pilgrims waiting for darshan, the EO inspected the medical facilities available for devotees at Vaikuntam Queue complex-2, the orderly movement of devotees queue. He also inspected the luggage counters, scanning equipment, free dispensary and Anna Prasadam kitchen.

The officials also reviewed queue movement conditions, precautions needed for cleanliness of toilets in cellars etc at Vaikunta queue complex-1. Thereafter at Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamamba Anna Prasadam Bhavan, they inspected the food items given to devotees and facilities at PAC-1,2,3, Kalyan Katta, lockers allotment system, facilities to devotees at dormitories. In Annaprasadam, the EO interacted with a devotee on the quality of food provided daily to the pilgrims.

Later, the EO and the senior officials inspected the SSD counters at Bhudevi complex, Srinivasam and Govindaraja Swamy Choultries in Tirupati, down the hills.

The EO directed officials to prepare an action plan to speed up the offline issue of Time Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) tokens for the convenience of devotees which was temporarily suspended following heavy influx of pilgrims, who were now directly allowed to Tirumala, without insisting on tokens, for darshan.

The engineering officials informed the EO about the extensive arrangements like shelters, drinking water and required changes being made in queue lines to prevent jostling of devotees.

It may be noted here that the issuing of SSD tokens were suspended after a melee, due to sudden rush at the SSD counter in Govindaraja Swamy Choultry, leaving many pilgrims injured on April 12. TTD also drew flake for no basic facilities including drinking water at the SSD counters and also leaving the pilgrims standing in the open, facing scorching sun which ultimately saw the TTD gearing up for providing remedial measures for the comfort of pilgrims at token counters.