The hill temple of Sri Venkateswara in Tirumala is fully geared up to meet the heavy rush anticipated for the auspicious ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ day on Thursday. It is coinciding with ‘Bhogi’ festival this year as per the almanac.
Devotees started arriving on Wednesday to gain entry through the sacred ‘Vaikunta Dwaram’, which would be kept open for 10 days from January 13.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management made elaborate arrangements for the occasion, considered the first major festival for the Hindus in a calendar year.
TTD Executive Officer K.S. Jawahar Reddy, additional Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy and Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (CVSO) Gopinath Jatti inspected the Vahana Mandapam, ‘Supadham’ and ‘Vaikuntam’ first and second queue complexes to ensure the arrangements were in place in tune with the COVID-19 guidelines.
‘Follow COVID-19 norms’
Addressing the media, Dr. Jawahar Reddy said all categories of devotees, including VIPs, holders of the ₹300 darshan ticket and ‘Sarva Darshan’ devotees had been given time slots to avoid waiting in the queue lines.
“All the devotees are requested to have Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam by duly following the COVID-19 norms and cooperate with the management,” Dr. Jawahar Reddy appealed.
Similarly, the Health Department took up a sanitisation in the areas such as the accommodation counters, Annaprasadam, Kalyanakatta (tonsuring centre), and the laddu counters, where pilgrim gathering was expected to be huge.
