Is Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple safe for Pilgrims?
Tirupati. After the country-wide Unlock 1.0 was announced which allowed the religious places to open, albeit with all the restrictions that need to be followed to stay safe from Covid-19, the world’s richest temple Lord Venkateshwara Temple in Tirumala was opened for public. Being the most sacred pilgrimage centre for Hindus, it saw good number of devotees making beeline to have a darshan.
Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) Board which manages the temple on seven hills has been maintaining that proper measures are being taken while allowing people to visit the temple. Wearing masks, maintaining social distances and sanitising complete Tirumala on regular basis are some of the measures taken. It is also conducting Covid-19 tests to the devotees and its staff randomly, and those with negative results are being allowed to work.
Despite assurance from the TTD board chairman YV Subba Reddy that Tirumala is safe and devotees need not fear, there is a sense of fright among the people who would like to visit Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala. Moreover the latest news of Covid-19 infections to the staff has left everyone in a state of bewilderment!
After remaining closed for nearly three months due to the lockdown, the temple re-opened for devotees on June 8. Currently, 13,000 devotees are being allowed to have darshan every day. They are being permitted after screening at Alipiri, the starting point of the hill route.
It is said that the pilgrims are following the Covid-19 guidelines prescribed by the TTD. However, the board chairman asked devotees to book their darshan slots online only and avoid pilgrimage if they belong to red zones or containment zones.
Subba Reddy announced that 140 employees of the TTD tested positive for corona virus in tests conducted for all the staffers since the resumption of darshan services at the Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on June 8. The infected persons include priests, staff, STF security staff and laddu-making staff. Of the 140 infected, 70 persons were cured and they are under home quarantine. All of them are healthy except one person, he said.
Stating that 14 out of 40 priests got infected with the virus, Subba Reddy said those who are above 60 years of age kept out of their duties. But the chairman made it clear that pilgrims will be allowed unabated as the Covid-19 situation was well under control.
It has been recorded that around 2.5 lakh devotees worshipped at the Tirumala temple in the first month after it reopened, while only about 600 Covid-19 tests were conducted on devotees till July 10. The meagre number of tests does not give a clear picture whether all the devotees who visited Tirumala were Covid negative.
With the spike in Covid-19 positive cases in Tirumala ithas triggered uproar in the shrine, as a section of employees and even the honorary chief priest Ramana Deekshitulu have demanded that the temple be temporarily closed again for darshan for pilgrims. But the TTD chairman is adamant, “There is no question of closing the temple again for darshan, as the situation is under control.”
Meanwhile TTD Staff and Workers’ United Front, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), had submitted a representation to TTD executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal, requesting that darshan at the temple be temporarily suspended because of the viral outbreak in the Tirumala hills. They also requested the TTD to allow employees to work in shifts in a bid to comply with social distancing norms, as only 33% of the staff would work on a day.
Ramana Deekshitulu, the honorary head priest of the temple, lashed out at the TTD officials for their insistence on allowing darshans, despite a surge in Covid-19 cases in Tirumala. Deekshitulu tagged Andhra Pradesh (AP) chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and tweeted that 15 out of 50 archakas (priests) had tested Covid-19 positive and were quarantined, while “still 25 results are awaited. But TTD executive officer and joint executive officer refuse to stop darshans”.
@religionworldin
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