Pilgrims visiting the Lord Venkateswara shrine on the Tirumala Hills are a happy lot these days as they are getting quick and easy darshan of the deity due to normal rush -- with the ongoing Samaikyandhra agitation helping curb the usual abnormal rush.
The non-operation of bus services in the district, including Tirupati, due to the agitation has brought down the number of pilgrims to the temple.
However, the agitators have exempted the buses and private vehicles plying between Tirupati and Tiruamala.
But with no such exemption to the buses plying between Tirupati and Srikalahasti and Tirupati and Kanipakam in the district and Tirupati and Golden temple at Vellore in Tamil Nadu, the pilgrims intending to visit the shrines at these places are put to a lot of inconvenience.
They are either forced to pay exorbitant fares to private transport operators or to cut short their pilgrimage and return without visiting the other temples.
‘’The private taxi operators, who used to charge a maximum of `1,200 for picking and dropping passengers between Tirupati and Srikalahasti are now charging about 2,000 as they know that we are left with no other option except to concede their demand,’’ Saradhi, a pilgrim from Srikakulam said.
Admitting that they had increased the fares to some extent, a travel operator Rajesh justified it thus: ‘’As the protesters are blocking the roads in almost all the areas as part of the ongoing Samaikyandhra agitation, there is every scope of our vehicles being targeted and damaged.
“Apart from this, we have to take alternative routes on some occasions to avoid road blockades and that would increase the distance between the destinations. This is forcing us to increase the fares.’’
Meanwhile, with the non-operation of buses, pilgrims are opting to visit Srikalahasti by train instead of depending on the private vehicle operators.