Tirumala decks up for ‘Ratha Sapthami’

TTD has made elaborate arrangements for devotees: EO

The sacred hill temple of Lord Venkateswara has been spruced up for the mega festival event — ‘Ratha Sapthami’ — on Saturday.

With the festival coinciding with the weekend holidays, the TTD has made elaborate arrangements for the devotees who it anticipates to swarm the town in huge numbers.

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal went around the thoroughfares of the town along with Additional EO A.V. Dharma Reddy, CVSO Gopinath Jetti and a host of senior officers.

Speaking to the media, he said that the management with an outlay of ₹1.60 crore had constructed temporary over-roof covering along the mada streets through which the processions of Lord on various ‘vahanams’ shall pass-by.

About 1.75 lakh water bottles and two lakh buttermilk sachets are kept ready for free distribution among the devotees. A total of 3,500 Srivari Seva volunteers in addition to 300 scouts and guides shall be deployed to meet the requirements of the devotees in the mada streets and about 1,000 health workers will be additionally pressed into service for the upkeep of hygiene in the galleries.

A team of medical officers along with adequate paramedical staff also shall be made available to meet any kind of contingency arising out of the situation. This apart more than half-a-dozen expert swimmers shall be deployed at Pushkarini (temple tank) during the ‘Chakrasnanam’ in the afternoon.

The TTD has cancelled the performance of all kinds of ‘arjitha sevas’ inside the temple on the festival day and annulled various special ‘darshan’ formats extended to senior and special citizens and other category devotees.