Tirumala Tirupati Darshan Tickets: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) board has opened slots for darshan at the hill-shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala and released 460,000 tickets online for the month of January, according to reports. The temple, which was closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, is now allowing devotees to visit the shrine by adhering to Covid protocols after two years.
TTD started releasing the slotted Sarvadarshana (SSD) tokens for the month of January on the official website of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) from 9 am on Monday. Officials advised interested devotees to book with Aadhaar card details. Devotees can buy tickets both in the online and offline mode. These tickets will cost ₹1 crore each and for Friday, pilgrims will have to pay ₹1.50 crore, according to media reports. The allotment is likely to generate ₹600 crore for the board. The board is planning to use the funds for three major projects, including the construction of a super-speciality children’s hospital, reports suggested.
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 again, the reports said.
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.
