New darshan system at Tirupati from December 18

Tirumala Joint Executive Officer KS Sreenivasa Raju said 117 counters have been set up at 14 places in Tirumala to issue tokens for sarva darshan on a pilot basis for 5-7 days for all devotees with Aadhaar cards. 

Only such devotees with tokens will be allowed entry into the Divya Darshan Complex.

The token system will be fully operational after two months with suitable changes based on the feedback from devotees, he said, adding that devotees without Aadhaar card can have darshan through the Sarva Darshan Complex.

The JEO said all arrangements for Vaikunta Ekadasi on December 29 and Dwadasi on the next day were taken up on a war footing and would be reviewed again on December 12. With the objective of providing better conveniences to common devotees, the TTD has suspended VIP break darshan from December 23 to January second week, except for protocol VIP breaks. He said currently one Aadhaar is accepted while applying for VIP break tickets but, from January 1st week all applicants will have to provide Aadhaar ahead of issue of tickets.

Raju said the TTD has taken up modernisation works of the Vakulamata Potu inside Srivari temple where Anna Prasadam for Srivari Naivedyam is prepared. He said works were under way at the Padi potu and the laddu production will be increased by another 50,000 to 80,000 laddus per day from December 20. Presently 2.80 lakh to 3.10 lakh laddus were produced there every day. He said on a long-term work basis increasing the works for laddu boondi preparation is also afoot and will be completed in 4 to 6 months. The issue of staff in Potu and additional Potu has been resolved, he said.