The ‘hundi’ at the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara has registered a steady increase in income ever since its re-opening for public on June 8 post COVID-19 lockdown.
Though the number of pilgrims permitted for darshan has been drastically brought down to 12,000 a day, which is done in strict adherence to health advisories of the government, the hundi income is relatively very high. According to statistics, around 1.89 lakh devotees had darshan till June 30 during the past 22 days (excluding June 14 when the temple was closed for solar eclipse) and the hundi registered an income of about ₹10.27 crore.
The temple records an average footfall of around 75,000 a day during the normal period while the hundi income hovers a little above ₹3 crore.
COVID tests
The TTD has also conducted COVID-19 tests for 1,570 devotees and all of them tested negative. Further to have an authentic report with regard to the health status of pilgrims, the TTD makes random calls to them after their return to their native destinations.
In an exclusive chat with The Hindu, TTD Additional Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy said a separate cell was set up for the purpose. It calls a minimum of 100 devotees daily and enquires them if they were subjected to any infections while at Tirumala. “Fortunately, we have not received even a single complaint from the pilgrims so far,” Mr. Reddy said.
Seven-day duty
Meanwhile, with a steep increase in the country-wide COVID-19 cases, the TTD resolved to implement a seven-day duty system to its employees working at the hill town. Employees belonging to essential services departments like medical, health, temple, vigilance and security have been asked to come prepared so that they are stay put for the entire week at Tirumala. Once the employee reports to his duty atop the town, he will be permitted to return to his home at Tirupati only after one week.
