TIRUMALA: Heavy pilgrim rush continued at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala on Sunday. The queue lines stretched past Shilathoranam, a considerable distance from the entrance of the Vaikuntam queue complex. Those who joined the queue line are expected to get their turn for darshan after 14-15 hours. Around 50,000 devotees had darshan by 3 pm. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy said the third Purattasi Saturday has witnessed a huge influx of devotees to Tirumala, stretching the waiting time up to 48 hours on Saturday.
Temple authorities said the pilgrim's rush commenced on Thursday night itself and 52,000 people had darshan on Friday till 10 pm. On Saturday, a total of 81,034 pilgrims visited the temple. The hundi collection was clocked at Rs 4.24 crore on Saturday.
The TTD had made elaborate arrangements to ensure that devotees are not subjected to any discomfort and the TTD EO personally monitored and supervised the queue lines. He conducted inspections with concerned officers six times since Thursday night.