Tamil Nadu has requested the Andhra Pradesh government to resume Special Entry Darshan (SED) tickets to the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) for Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati.
Minister of State for Tourism R. Rajendran met Andhra Pradesh minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy at his residence in Nellore on Tuesday and requested TTDC to issue a quota of 400 SED tickets per day.
“Back in 1974, TTDC started a day trip to Tirupati when devotees were taken on free/open darshan tickets. Since 1997, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has been issuing SED stamps. The Devasthanam had announced to stop issuing these tickets to all states. Stopping the distribution of tickets will cause hardship to devotees, especially those coming from Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Rajendran said.
This quota is distributed across Coimbatore, Madurai, Hosur, Palani and Cuddalore from where weekend trips are organized.
Daily trips are operated from Chennai for which at least eight buses operate daily. These trips had to be booked at least seven days before the date of travel.
published – December 17, 2024 at 11:59 pm IST