There are criticisms that the YSRCP government has taken decisions that damage the sanctity of Tirumala and distanced the Lord from ordinary devotees. It is believed that the main reason for the Tirupati stampede is that the coalition government is continuing the policies of the previous government, without a review.
The previous regime increased the darshan through Vaikuntha, which was previously only for two days, Ekadashi and Dwadashi, to 10 days, damaging the uniqueness of the darshan through Vaikuntha, but the current reg8je has continued the same policy.
The number of devotees visiting Tirumala is increasing day by day. With this, major changes have been made in the darshan procedures and issuance of darshan tickets in the last two decades. In 1991, more than 32,000 people came to Tirumala Srivari Darshan every day, and by 2021, the number had reached 65,000.
In response to the rush of devotees, the then Board of Trustees built Vaikuntam Queue Complex-2 in 2001. As the number of devotees continued to increase, sheds were set up in the Narayangiri Gardens in 2014. The Sudarshana Token system was introduced in 1999 with the aim of reducing the waiting time for Tirumala Srivari Darshan.
Using changing technology, the process of issuing slotted Sarvadarshan (SSD) tokens was started in the last month of 2017 to make it more convenient. Expanding the SSD system, tokens were issued through a total of 109 counters at Tirupati, Tirumala and Galigopuram.
However, the SSD counters were closed in the wake of Covid. Despite normal circumstances, the YSRCP government has limited the issuance of tokens under the SSD system to three centers in Tirupati. Even after the coalition government came to power, the YSRCP policies are continuing without any review.
Even though common devotees were inconvenienced during the YSRCP regime in the name of saving money, the NDA government officials are continuing the same policies without any review and without considering the difficulties of the devotees.
Due to the nature of the construction of the Tirumala Srivari temple, 70,000 devotees can have darshan per day. About 25,000 special entry darshan tickets, VIP breaks, devotees who have received Srivani, donors, and earned services tickets, etc., together with other 10,000, there are 35,000.
In addition to these, 35,000 to 40,000 common devotees visit Srivari through free darshan. The common devotees have been inconvenienced due to the decisions taken by the previous regime in the name of saving financial resources.
