Tirumala Tirupati darshan: Temple sarvadarshan slots open for January; per ticket cost up to Rs 1.5 crore
The Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) has released online tickets for the hill-shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala darshan for the month of January under various categories. The ticket sale for the Tirupati temple, which was closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, started on December 27 (today).
The TTD has released 460,000 tickets online under various categories and suggested that devotees coming for Tirumala darshan must follow the Covid-19 rules properly. Devotees must bring a certificate of two doses of Covid-19 vaccination.
On December 25, the board’s website received 14 lakh visitors just after the ticket release announcement and the entire slot was booked within 55 minutes.
The board had released 20,000 tickets per day for January 1 and January 13 to 22 and 12,000 per day from January 2 to 12 and January 23 to 31. On the other hand, it released 5,500 virtual service tickets online for January 1, 2, 13, 22, and 26, all of which were booked within minutes, according to reports.
For the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadashi between January 13 and 22, tickets will be sold at the rate of Rs 300 per day. Meanwhile, the ticket price has been set at Rs 10,000 per day for the remaining days. TTD has released Rs. 300 special darshan tickets.
Meanwhile, TTD released the slotted Sarvadarshana (SSD) tokens on the official website of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) from 9 am on Monday. The board has released 155,000 tickets for Sarvadarshan. Officials advised interested devotees to book with Aadhaar card details.
The tickets will be available both online and offline. Each ticket will cost Rs 300 on all days except Friday. The allotment is likely to generate Rs 600 crore for the board.
Owing to concern over the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that governs the ancient hill- shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala, near here, on Friday said henceforth, pilgrims visiting the shrine must carry their fully vaccinated certificates or a COVID-19 test negative report taken 48 hours earlier, a senior TTD official said.
The devotees without the certificates or report would not be allowed to climb the hills either by vehicle or on foot, the official told PTI. He said such devotees would be sent back from the checkpoint at Alipiri, the foot of the hills.
Udayasthamana Arjitha Seva was launched in 1981, but stopped in 1995 before being officially wound up in 2006. When first introduced, tickets were priced at ₹1 lakh. The board sold around 2,600 tickets. However, 531 tickets have been left unutilised. Now, the board has decided to allot these tickets, the reports said.
