Normally when you go to Tirumala for darshan of Balaji, the main complaint is that you were pushed around in the sanctum and not given even seconds of view of your beloved deity.
But this August it has been different. With the agitation by the Saimakhayandra campaigners Tirupati was blockaded and those who could make to hill shrine had the best of it .
‘Thanks to lack of rush we could stand before deity for more than 5 minutes, an unbelievable feat of life time for a common devotee’, said a devotee.
But even news of low crowds brought avalanche of pilgrims wanting easy and cosy darshans. Last two weekends including this Sunday brought usual crowds of nearly 1.2 lakhs made it to Tirumala who dared to walk when buses were not around.
In August last the total income of TTD from hundi was Rs. 78 Cr, now this August it is just Rs 62 cr and as against 23 lakhs visitors last August only 15 lakhs came this year says a senior TTD officer.
For the first time in the 80 year history of TTD nearly 5000 of its work force including 500 archakas went on en masse leave and also participated in the agitation on Friday.
The Tirumala shrine is one of the richest in the country with an annual budget of Rs. 2200 crore and 50 tonne gold reserves and jewelry and a 14,000 staff.
