At an emergency Board meeting chaired by TTD chairman Y V Subba Reddy was held at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala on Saturday. Talking to reporters after the board meeting, the chairman said that the pilgrims have also been following the Covid guidelines prescribed by TTD with utmost discipline and having hassle free darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

However, the Chairman again appealed to devotees to book their darshan slots online only and avoid pilgrimage if they belong to Red Zone or Containment Zones.

We have resumed darshan of Lord Venkateswara from June 8 onwards. We have carried out a survey on the pilgrims who had darshan and reached their home places. Not even a single devotee has been tested positive. But as the Covid cases are increasing across the country, we are not going to enhance the pilgrim numbers for darshan till this month ends.

In TTD, 17 employees have tested positive. But they got affected by COVID spread in their respective places they hail from and not in Tirumala. Instead of a week shift for employees, we are now contemplating two week shifts for the employees to ensure their health safety. Every employee will be tested for Corona and then only they will be allowed to discharge their duties.

The local legislators B Karunakar Reddy, Dr C Bhaskar Reddy along with Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy will instill confidence among the employees by holding meetings with Employees Associations.

The TTD Chairman said, over the request of some devotees we are considering Online Kalyanotsavam. Anyway the kalyanam is being telecasted live everyday on SVBC. The archakas will read out the Gotra Namas of the devotees who book the Kalyanotsavam tickets online. We are also planning to send prasadams through the postal department.

More safety measures at Kalyanakatta will be ensured. The barbers will be given gloves, half PPE kits for the safety of both barbers as well as the pilgrims. The barber has to change the hand gloves after tonsuring every pilgrim.

Vahanam bearers should wear masks and gloves and vahanams will be sanitized at regular intervals. Similar measures will be taken even at prasadam distribution centres and also at local temples, Reddy said.