TIRUPATI: Covid-19 norms like maintaining physical distance and wearing face masks were flouted as devotees who arrived in large numbers for getting Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) tokens did not adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour (CAB).
As new cases began to drop and the demand from devotees to issue free SSD tickets grew, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) started issuing 15,000 tokens per day from Tuesday. They made elaborate arrangements and set up counter for issuing tokens at Srinivasam, Bhudevi Complex, and Govindaraja Swamy Choultry in Tirupati.
Devotees arrived in large numbers at these complexes from Monday night itself. A stampede-like situation prevailed for sometime after devotees in large numbers jostled to get their tokens once the counters opened. However, normalcy was restored after the crowd reduced within hours.