Over 25 lakh devotees visited Tirumala in May: TTD JEO

TIRUPATI: Tirumala has been reeling under the impact of a heavy pilgrim rush since the onset of the summer vacations and has registered a footfall of over 25 lakh devotees in May alone, according to TTD joint executive officer KS Sreenivasa Raju.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the queue lines, Vaikuntam Q complex and other places at Tirumala on Saturday, the JEO said about 25,82,494 devotees worshipped at the Tirumala temple in May this year. “This year in May alone, about 1.20 lakh more devotees had darshan at the temple, as about 24,62,494 number of devotees visited Tirumala in May 2018,” he observed.
Meanwhile, devotees kept pouring in over the weekend and the waiting time for ‘darshan’ stretched to 26 hours on Saturday evening. According to TTD data, about 66,360 pilgrims could perform ‘darshan’ at the Tirumala temple from 3 am till 6 pm.
With all compartments in the twin Vaikuntam Q complexes filled with devotees, people waited outside in queues that stretched a little over two km.
Meanwhile, TTD received an income of Rs 2.64 lakh in the form of offering extended to the Srivari Hundi by visiting devotees in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, A two-day free mega health camp was inuagurated by TTD joint executive officer B Lakshmikantham at the central hospital in the TTD administrative building premises on Saturday morning.
Speaking on the occasion, Lakshmikantham said healthy employees alone can deliver services to Srivari devotees. The free health camp, undertaken in coordination with Central Hospital, Ashwini hospital, SV Ayurveda hospital, SVIMS, MSD, and SRL hospitals, has been organised for employees, their family members and retired employees.
TTD has roped in cardiologists, neurologists, urologists, gynaecologists, orthopaedic surgeons, dentists and other specialists from various leading hospitals for the mega camp. He applauded the various TTD departments for making the event happen.
The JEO said a seminar was organised at Mahati Auditorium in Tirupati on health and wellness exercises, yoga and diet, among other subjects to sensitise the public on the need to lead a healthy lifestyle.