Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to cancel some daily and weekly rituals and restrict congregation of pilgrims for religious events in ‘Lord Balaji’s temple in Tirumala, due to the corona virus outbreak. Senior TTD officials on Saturday said never in the history of Tirumala, TTD had taken such decision before.

TTD executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal said, “We have never faced such a situation before. Our main focus is to ensure smooth passage of religious events for the lord without allowing pilgrims to congregate in big numbers.”

Singhal said weekly rituals like Sahasra Kalasabhishekam (every Wednesday) and Vishesha Pooja (every Monday) and daily rituals like Vasanthotsavam would not be performed.

“These rituals have been cancelled indefinitely. Utsavams for the lord will go on as usual. The Srirama Navami celebrations at Vontimitta temple will be organised as per schedule but with restrictions to check large turnout of devotees,” the EO said.

TTD has also decided to postpone the ground-breaking ceremony of its new temple at Bandra in Mumbai in the wake of the deadly COVID-19.

Singhal said pilgrim gathering at important congregation points like Vaikuntam queue complex, Kalyanakatta, Annaprasadam complex, laddu distribution centres and reception counters would not be allowed. “Congregation of pilgrims at queue lines leading to the temple and sanctum sanctorum will also be curtailed. Only 3,500-4,000 pilgrims (every one hour) will be allowed for lord’s darshan,” he said. Normally, 5,000 to 5,500 pilgrims are allowed every hour at the shrine.

“As per advisories from the central and state governments, we have initiated a number of precautionary steps,” Singhal said. Senior officials said these measures were aimed at curtailing the massive inflow of pilgrims so that spread of the virus was contained. The shrine receives close to one lakh pilgrims a day from all parts of the country and from across the world. “The aim is to bring down the pilgrim inflow to 60,000 to 65,000,” an official said.

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