Creating a general scenario, a large number of devotees journeyed to Tirumala resulting with a huge demand for accommodation as queues stretched to three kilometres.
Furthermore, by evening, all compartments at the Vaikuntam queue complex were full, forcing devotees in the general queue to wait for over 16 hours to have their darshan while for special entrance ticket holders it took seven hours.
As the fact remain, the TTD authorities had stopped issuing the special Rs 300 entrance tickets from Sunday afternoon. During the last two days, mercury soared to a staggering 45ºC, giving a harrowing time to pilgrims using the pedestrian routes from Srinivasa Mangapuram and Alipiri to reach Tirumala.
The aged and women and children had a tough time at the amenities complexes with long queues for toilets as a result of all the accommodation blocks getting full, devotees occupied public places including dormitories, bus station, parks and pavements.
Coming to the conclusion, the crowds has resulted in a field day for private lodges in Tirupati, with all of them overspreading the pilgrims with unreasonable tariffs.
Image source: Tirumala
(AW:Samrat Biswas)
