Pilgrims wanting to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwara on Tirumala hills will have to produce the Covid-19 vaccination certificate hereafter. If not, they should at least produce the RT-PCR test report that showed negative result at least three days before the darshan.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on Wednesday announced that it is mandatory for all the pilgrims to produce a certificate showing that they have taken two-doses of vaccination for Covid-19 before coming to the temple for darshan of the Lord.
Otherwise, they should produce the RT-PCR test report showing that they tested negative for Covid-19, three days before coming to the temple town for darshan.
TTD chairman Y V Subba Reddy said in a statement: “Devotees coming with online special entry tickets or slotted sarva darshan (SSD) tokens (issued to pilgrims to have free darshan of Lord) should possess either 2-dose vaccination certificate or come with Covid-19 negative test report which they have taken three days before reporting on the allotted day of the darshan.”
He said the decision was taken keeping in view the health security of the devotees coming from all parts of the country, he said, and appealed to all the devotees to strictly follow the Covid-19 guidelines for their personal benefit as well the others.
Subba Reddy also announced that the TTD has done away with issuance of off-line tickets for Sarva Darshan (free darshan) at the ticket counters at Alipiri in order to prevent spread of Covid-19, with effect from September 26.
“As the overcrowding at SSD token issue centres earlier had allegedly become a source of the spread of pandemic Covid-19, the TTD has decided to do away with it and take up issuance of tokens only online,” the TTD chairman said
The TTD resumed free darshan at Tirumala temple from September 9, for the sake of common devotees, with certain restrictions. To start with, only 2,000 devotees, that too only from Chittoor district, were allowed in a day under the SSD token system introduced at the ticket counters at Alipiri. Now, only on-line tickets would be issued for sarva darshan.