There will be no hike on Tirumala Rooms for common pilgrims. Only the VIP room charges are subject to change.
The EO stated that TTD has commercialized the Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan by opening it for ten days. TTD made the decision to open the Vaikuntha Dwaram for ten days after receiving the consent of 32 Peethadhipathis. “Even our epic states that in Vaikuntha, 40 minutes equals 10 days in Bhooloka. Because many Sri Vaishnava temples, including the most ancient Sri Rangam temple, open up the Vaikuntha Dwaram for 10 days, we decided to do the same in Tirumala temple in order to provide Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan to more pilgrims. TTD had canceled VIP tickets during the period and even distributed five lakh free tokens to devotees in Tirupati, so there is no point in commercialization”.
No hike on Tirumala Rooms for Common Pilgrims
As of now, 7500 rooms in Tirumala, nearly 75% of which are between the tariffs of Rs.50, Rs.100, and so on, are within the reach of the average pilgrim. TTD spent nearly Rs.120 crore to renovate all of these rooms by installing new geysers, furniture, flooring, doors, and windows, giving them a completely new appearance. TTD has not increased their rentals despite the fact that the maintenance on each of these rooms costs us Rs.200-Rs.250. Aside from these low-cost rooms, there are four PACs that house nearly 15000 pilgrims for free. It has been decided to construct one more PAC at Rs.100 crore to accommodate another 2000 pilgrims with all free amenities”.
TTD has decided to give the Special Type, SVRH, VVRH, and Narayanagiri Rest Houses a facelift, spending approximately Rs. 8 crores to modernize 172 rooms on par with Sri Padmavathi Rest House, where protocol VIPs and the economically wealthy will prefer to stay. TTD has increased the rentals of these 172 rooms alone to maintain balance, as these cottages also fall under the MBC and SPRH areas.
Giving priority to the common pilgrim, TTD has undertaken a number of initiatives in recent years, one of the most important of which is the renovation of rest houses. TTD has provided free darshan, accommodation, tonsuring, prasadams, medical services, Annaprasadam, Jala Prasadam, transportation, and on the social front, free education, free food in hostels, free medication, and so on to common devotees.
