Lord Balaji temple to reopen for public darshan from June 11; Only 6,000 per day

Tirupati (AP): The famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala will reopen for devotees from June 11 but with very limited numbers per day, more than 80 days after public darshan was stopped due to coronavirus pandemic, top temple officials said on Friday.

Only 6,000 devotees per day as against the normal rush over 60,000 would be allowed entry and COVID-19 precautionary measures, including six feet distance between each other and wearing of face mask, would be strictly followed, officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers the ancient shrine, said.

The ban on entry of devotees, enforced on March 20, was being lifted from June 11 and less than 500 people per hour would be permitted entry for 13 hours from dawn to dusk every day, TTD Chairman Y V Subba Reddy, Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal and Additional Executive Officer A V Dharma Reddy told a joint press conference at Tirumala.

Children aged below 10 years and elderly people above 65 would not be allowed into the shrine, thronged by devotees from across the country and overseas throughout the year, they said.

All TTD employees involved in regulating devotees would be wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) suits.

Before permitting devotees, TTD would study their travel history and randomly conduct COVID-19 screening. Those found having symptoms such as fever would be immediately sent for quarantine, the officials said.

A total of 3,000 special darshan tickets each priced at Rs 300 would be available online daily.

The remaining 3,000 quotas would be set apart for free darshan and devotees opting for it can register themselves for the time slot at designated places here, including Alipiri at the foothills of Tirumala.

The online ticket sales would commence from June 8.

TTD has already announced it would conduct a trial run with its own staff, officials and some of the local public from June 8 to test the system ahead of the regular darshan.

It had on March 20 barred entry of devotees into the temple for a week in the wake of the coronavirus scare and later extended it after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nation-wide lockdown four days later.

The Centre in its recent “Unlock 1” guidelines has allowed the opening of temples for public darshan among other relaxations.

A temple official told PTI that during the lockdown so far, the over 2000-year old shrine incurred a loss of about Rs.500 crore revenue.