Tirumala: Stampede-Like Situation At Sarvadarshan Ticket Counter Leaves Three Injured

On Tuesday, some devotees have injured in a scuffle at Sarva Darshan token centres at the temple

Devotees at Tirumala (Image: ABP Desam)

Hyderabad: At least three people were severely injured in a stampede-like situation at the Tirumala shrine in Tirupati on Tuesday. A large crowd of pilgrims gathered at the ticket counter in the shrine to secure Sarvadarshan tickets, which led to the stampede-like situation.

"There was a huge rush at three token counters in Tirupati. However, looking at the rush, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) decided to allow pilgrims directly into the compartments of Tirumala for darshan. The situation is normal now," news agency ANI reported, quoting TTD PRO Ravi Kumar.

 

The Sarvadarshan tickets were last given to devotees on April 9 for April 12 darshan, reported ABP Desam. After which the authorities stopped giving the Sarvadarshan tickets due to which devotees piled up for the last couple of days and when the counters were opened on Tuesday for April 13 people flocked to take tickets which resulted in a stampede-like situation. Meanwhile, the infants and the elderly in the queue faced severe difficulties.

TTD allocates Sarvadarshan tickets for devotees in Tirupati at Govindaraja Swamy Residency near Railway Station, Srinivasam Complex near Bus Stand and Bhudevi Complex at Alipiri, ABP Desam reports.

TTD halted the process of issuing Sarvadarshan tokens in offline mode since the Pandemic hit the country. However, after the flattening of the Covid-19 curve, TTD has started to issue tickets offline too. Besides, the devotees will be allowed into the compartments of the Vaikuntha Queue Complex after two years.

VIP Break Darshan Suspended For 5 Days

Due to the huge crowd, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam cancelled the VIP break darshan at the Tirumala temple for five days from Wednesday (April 13) to Sunday (April 17). 

The TTD Public Relations Officer said that devotees should note that five days of VIP break darshans have been cancelled and he requested the devotees to cooperate with the devasthanam body.

(With ABP Desam, ANI inputs)