Tirumala shuts down as elderly man with COVID-19 symptoms collapses outside shrine
TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) on Thursday decided to suspend darshan at the Srivari Temple, Tirumala for seven days after an elderly person with coronavirus symptoms collapsed near the shrine.
The temple, however, will not be closed completely and the archakas will be performing the daily rituals as usual, TTD Executive Officer AK Singhal said.
The TTD will review the situation after seven days and take a decision on allowing devotees to have darshan after that.
More than 100 persons who were accompanying the man were quarantined in Tirumala temple town itself while the suspect was shifted to SVIMS at Tirupati for treatment.
Following the incident, Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas announced that darshan at all major temples will be suspended till March 31. Mass congregations will not be allowed at Churches and Mosques as well.
According to TTD officials, a group of around 110 persons from Uttar Pradesh came on a pilgrimage to Tirumala on Thursday afternoon. They started their pilgrimage at Varanasi and after visiting the temples at Puri in Odisha and Srisailam, they reached Tirumala via Ongole.
Around 2.45 pm, the group of devotees went inside for darshan while the 70-year-old person was left outside as he was not given time slot darshan ticket for not having a proper identification (Aadhaar) card. While waiting outside for his fellow pilgrims, he collapsed and the TTD staff immediately shifted him to the Aswini hospital.
As he was suffering from high fever, he was rushed to SVR Ruia hospital at Tirupati and from there to the isolation ward in SVIMS. The TTD has identified the remaining 100-odd people who were accompanying him and shifted them to one of the Pilgrim Amenities Complex in Tirumala for tests.
However, the TTD is allowing the devotees who have already reached Tirumala to have time slot darshan.