The year 2015 on Thursday concluded on an impressive note for the TTD.
Even though it was just another eventful year as far as the TTD is concerned it nevertheless will be cherished long in the minds of the devout as a year that has ushered several radical changes in the darsan, accommodation, purchase of the much-sought-after laddu prasadam besides in the administration of the prestigious institution.
End to serpentine
darsan lines
The year saw the total banishment of the serpentine darsan lines that was once synonymous to Tirupati darsan. Darsan tickets have been made online (at present 26,000 tickets of Rs.300/- are issued online every day) accommodation ‘instant’ and zero waiting hours in the purchase of the laddu tokens. Thanks to the practical and pragmatic approach being adopted by TTD Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao, the elongated darsan lines that regularly spilled out of the massive complexes but on a couple of festive occasions during the year nonetheless remained a thing of the past.
The height of the pedestals used in the three-tier darshan system inside the sanctum were evenly raised with a forward slope to further provide a gratifying view of the presiding deity. To cut down the gruelling waiting hours of the devout at the Kalyanakatta, the TTD had resolved to provide honorarium to the Kalyanakattas sevakulu (volunteers) on par with the barbers working on piece rate system.
‘e-lottery’ system
To eradicate nepotism and black-marketing of the arjitha seva tickets like Suprabhatam, Thomala and Archana issued under the current booking system across the bank counters, ‘e-lottery’ system was introduced by the TTD. To check the malpractices being indulged by the laddu staff and maintain the prescribed weight of the saccharine balls, the management had introduced bar-coding of the laddu trays inside the hill temple.
Whether it is the purchase of raw materials that runs into several hundred crores of rupees annually or the sale of human hair that fetches hundreds of crores the concept of ‘e-tendering’ has been made mandatory.
Sending shivers down the spine of the manipulators, the TTD for the first time in the recent past also had rejected over 231 tonnes of sugar and 34 tonnes of Bengal gram for failing to meet the tender specifications.
Apart from the periodical fares and festivals for which the hill temple is known the town also witnessed two Brahmotsavams. The Vaikunta Ekadasi festival was also observed twice during the year besides the conduct of the six-day Varuna Yagam propitiating the God of rains.
Ontimitta temple
On the administrative front, the ancient Ontimitta temple at Kadapa was brought under the control of the TTD and the management also resolved to take up three mega non-conventional power projects — one solar project at Kosuvaripalli and two wind projects at Narayanagiri and Akkagarlagudi areas at Tirumala — to meet its energy requirements. Smashing was the recent decision to restrict the deputation period of officials in the TTD (from other governmental departments) strictly to three years.
For the first time in the temple history, the annual budget of the TTD crossed the fascinating mark of over Rs. 2,500 crores.
The town which till the end of October reeled under the impact of severe shortage of drinking water also recorded the highest ever rainfall of over 2,100 mm in a year unheard in the temple history – thanks to cyclone Roanu.
Meanwhile, several VIPs including foreign dignitaries like – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Singapore minister for Home Affairs Iswaran, President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime minister Narendra Modi, besides scores of Chief Ministers of other States like Akhilesh Yadhav, Fadnavis, Siddaramaiah, Raman Singh in addition to several Union Ministers, Governors, Chief Justice of India, judges of other States made a bee line to the hill temple for the darshan of the presiding deity – Lord Venkateswara.
