Pilgrim influx at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara here was unprecedented for a Monday which the officials attributed to the Id-ul-Fitr holiday, resulting in an extended weekend.
The queuelines stretched up to five kilometres from the Vaikuntam Queue Complex till afternoon. The rush started receding later.
An estimate put the number of pilgrims on Monday around 65,000, which is double the average rush for the day. In fact, the rush started on August 14, when the string of holidays commenced.
As usual, the temple authorities introduced Mahalaghu Darshan to quickly clear the pilgrim rush. Butter milk and drinking water were provided to the devotees waiting in the queue.
A senior temple official said they were prepared for the influx from August 15, but the rush started a day earlier, continued till the weekend and extended till Monday.
Temple authorities cancelled the evening VIP break darshan on Monday. Many devotees who did not find accommodation on the hill top were forced to find accommodation in Tirupati.
As there was water scarcity, 20 percent of the cottages in Tirumala were kept locked. Rooms in Sapthagiri Choultries, GNC and HVC were not allotted to pilgrims.
TTD officials said they were providing accommodation to pilgrims at Srinivasam, Hari Nivasam and Vi shnu Nivasam in Tirupati so as to bring down pressure on Tirumala.
However, several pilgrims were not happy with the arrangements and many were found complaining about not being able to have a satisfactory darshan of Lord Venkateswara nor accommodation on Tirumala to spend some time there.
Some complained about shortage of water. Some complained about TTD staff not providing proper information upon enquiry.
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