TIRUMALA, July 5, 2013: Restricting the visit of ever-increasing devotees, making darshan easier for the common people and dealing with the threat of a strike by employees are the immediate tasks that await MG Gopal when he takes charge as the executive officer (EO) of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

The biggest task is to ensure that the darshan process is streamlined so that devotees can complete it in less time. At present, darshan is taking anywhere between 8 and 12 hours for common pilgrims on ordinary days and 36 hours on festive occasions and weekends. Keeping in view the rise in the number of pilgrims with each passing year, the authorities had toyed with the idea of restricting darshans to devotees with only once a year. But that never took off.

Another major issue to be addressed is VIP darshan as it delays the darshan time of the general public. VIP break dashan, especially during auspicious occasions like Vaikuntha Ekadasi, has greatly affected the ordinary queue. But TTD insiders said that none of these problems are going to wither even after a change of guard.

A major impediment to the smooth administrative functioning of the TTD is that its chairman and EO never see eye to eye on many things as it happened with incumbent chief Kanumuri Bapiraju and outgoing EO L V Subramanyam. Other pending tasks include completion of the second phase of Ring Road.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 5, 2013.