Tirumala Tirupati Dewasthanam (TTD), the body which manages the world’s richest temple affairs informed that advance booking of Rs 300, special entry ‘darshan’ tickets would commence on August 30 on a trial basis through internet booking and at e-Darshan counters, putting an end to delayed darshans at the temple.

Temple authorities said the Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandra Babu Naidu, who visited Tirumala recently directed the TTD to find ways to reduce the waiting hours of the devotees. TTD executive officer MG Gopal said a team was formed to plan a system to reduce the waiting time.

From August 30, pilgrims can book the Rs 300 special entry ‘darshan’ tickets regularly through internet booking and e-Darshan counters. However, on an experimental basis, TTD commenced the sale of 5,000 tickets of Rs 300 from 9 am onwards on August 20 for the seventh day darshan on August 27 for 2 pm and 3 pm slots.

Temple authorities are trying to reduce the darshan wait time to almost 6-7 hours.

Officials said 2,500 tickets through e-Darshan would be made available only for 2 pm and 3 pm slots every day. New slots would be worked out later on the demand. The pilgrims should present themselves at the reporting time indicated in the ticket. The right of entry will automatically get forfeited if they do not report before expiry of the time of admission indicated in the ticket.

For group ticket holders all pilgrims mentioned in the ticket have to report collectively at a time. The pilgrims have to be present in traditional dress code (dothi, pyjama and kurta for men and sari, half-sari, chudidhar with dupatta for women) while reporting for darshan.

No person in shorts/skintight clothes would be permitted. Wearing dupatta/upper cloth is a must for women pilgrims.

The pilgrims should come with at least two printouts of the confirmation slip along with original proof of ID and to produce the same at VQC -I for verification to get entry for darshan and the other one while collecting ‘prasadam’.