TIRUPATI: Vaikuntha Ekadasi events were conducted successfully at Tirumala and around 75,000 pilgrims apart from VIPs mainly from judiciary, politicians and bureaucrats were provided darshan without any untoward incident.As it was Friday, three hours were allocated for Lord’s Abhishekam ritual. Hence, against the usual 2 am, the devotees were allowed for darshan at 8:05 am. The darshan continued till 12 midnight and a total 74,012 persons had darshan. However, around 40,000 people, who came for darshan were denied the opportunity and they have to return disappointed. Admitting that there were several devotees who failed to get darshan on Vaikuntha Ekadasi, Tirumala Joint Executive Officer KS Srinivasa Raju, attributed it to unprecedented rush.
Speaking to mediapersons at Tirumala on Saturday, he said elaborate arrangements were made by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in terms of Annaprasadam, water supply etc., but beyond their expectations 40,000 devotees arrived at Tirumala, which was more than previous year. He said the queue lines spread 4 km while another 2 km on the outer ring road. Tirumala usually witnesses heavy year-end rush in December and this year it was coupled with Vaikuntha Ekadasi and Dwadasi, he said.
laborating further, the JEO said, on Ekadasi 74,012 had darshan while on Dwadasi so far (till 7 pm on Saturday) as many as 75,658 had darshan taking the total to almost 1.5 lakh in two days. “With a few more hours left for Vaikuntha Dwaram to be closed, we could be able to provide darshan to 20,000 more pilgrims and it will be a record sort of darshan during Vaikuntha Ekadasi and Dwadasi days. Our first priority is always been common pilgrims,” he asserted.
The JEO said, “All the TTD departments have rendered excellent services to the pilgrims in spite of the unexpected pilgrim surge. On behalf of the TTD, I also thank Tirupati Urban SP Abhishek Mohanty and his team for their services in managing pilgrim crowd especially on the outer ring road.Elaborating on New Year arrangements, the JEO said, “There is nothing special on January 1, which falls on Monday.”