From 1.2L a day, Tirumala footfall drops to 2.4k

From 1.2L a day, Tirumala footfall drops to 2.4k

Tirupati:12.05.2021 

Pilgrim footfall at Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala on Monday reported an all-time low of 2,400. This is perhaps the lowest ever in the history of the temple.

With the surging Covid-19 cases leading to full and partial lockdowns in many parts of the country, including in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the flow of devotees to the hill temple has dried up considerably over the last few weeks. While the temple was closed during the lockdown in the first wave of Covid-19 during March-June 2020, soon after its reopening the temple recorded an average footfall of 8,000 pilgrims.

Tirumala temple is famous for its large turnout of pilgrims round the year, the numbers often touching 1.25 lakh on weekends and festivals. Never in its history the temple had witnessed a pilgrim turnout less than 8,000 a day.

Now, though the TTD is allowing devotees with darshan tickets to enter Tirumala even after 12 noon, when the 18-hour partial curfew announced by the state government comes into force, people have been reluctant to visit the temple during these pandemic times.

While just 2,400 devotees visited the temple on Monday, about 1,375 devotees got their heads tonsured as part of fulfilment of their vows. The low pilgrim footfall also saw the temple’s hundi collections dip to an all-time low of 24 lakh. The hundi collection on normal days hovers between Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore daily. Even during the first wave Covid-19 restrictions the hundi collection never dropped below Rs 1 crore a day.

Officials expect a further dip in the pilgrim footfall as Telangana government on Tuesday announced near-lockdown restricting public movement. TNN