TTD Puts Up 23 LED Screens for Life-size Imagery for Devotees

Tirumala is all decked up for the upcoming nine-day Brahmotsavam, which is going to be the pinnacle of the 450 events.
TTD Puts Up 23 LED Screens for Life-size Imagery for Devotees

TIRUMALA:Tirumala is all decked up for the upcoming nine-day Brahmotsavam, which is going to be the pinnacle of the 450 events/festivals organised by the TTD round the year.

The temple surroundings are all decked up with flower medians, illumination works, security barricades, extended parking lots, streamlined food parks, Laddu prasadam sale/distribution counters and queuelines. The serene and lush green Tirumala are set to reverberate with ‘Namo Venkateshaya’ chants as millions of devotees are expected to throng the hill shrine to be blessed by their revered deity and fulfill their vows in return for the boons showered by Him.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is fully geared up to receive the multitude of devotees and also organise the celestial event. “We are ready 365 days a year to receive the hordes of devotees,” TTD executive officer D Sambasiva Rao told newsmen here on Sunday after reviewing the arrangements for the twin Brahmotsavamas. “Our focus is on security, cleanliness and also and provision of extended spiritual and devotional elixir to the pilgrims during the Brahmotsavams” he said.

He said that taking a cue from the past, the TTD officials had erected barricades all over the three sqkm Tirumala spiritual hub. Security had been tightened specially around the temple - on the Four Mada Streets and at the Swami Pushkarini and Vaikuntam Queue Complex, he added.

The galleries on the Four Mada Streets would accommodate 2.5 lakh devotees for witnessing the ‘Vahana’ processions of the presiding deity of Tirumala, which constituted the hallmark of the nine-day Brahmotsavam fete, the TTD EO  said.

The darshan of the Lord on the processional Vahanalu was equivalent to the darshan of the Mula Virat in the temple, said AVS Ramana Dikshitulu, chief priest of the Tirumala temple.

The TTD has kept a buffer of six lakh ‘laddus’ for sale/distribution to the pilgrims during the mega event. The duration of common man darshan (Sarva Darshan) has been increased to nearly 20 hours during the Brahmotsavams, cutting short all VVIP darshans and cancellation of Arjita Sevas.

The TTD has put up 23 huge LED TVs and the SVBC, the in-house channel, has been directed to deploy more Jimmy Jibs - 360-degree camera-holder cranes during the ‘Vahana Sevalu’ to present a life size imagery to the devotees. To support the TTD staff, about 2,700 Srivari Sevakulu and 600 Scouts and Guides will be deployed with a massive deployment of security forces, including the NSG and other paramilitary personnel, to guard the temple and manage the huge congregation during the nine-day spiritual bonanza.

“In view of the perennial security threat to the world’s most important Hindu shrine, vigilance will be stepped up with Drone-monted cameras monitoring the crowd movement  from high above the Tirumala temple. We anticipate a huge number of trekking devotees from all over south India and  it is necessary to monitor their movements and provide basic amenities to them,” joint executive officer (Tirumala) KS Srinivasa Raju said.

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