TTD vigilance to crack the whip against middlemen involved in black marketing darshan tickets and accommodation at Tirumala

TIRUPATI: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is preparing ground to plug all the loopholes involved in obtaining the most sought after darshan tickets and accommodation at Tirumala by cracking the whip against middlemen involved in black-marketing darshan tickets and accommodation on the hill town.
After the new NDA govt handpicked senior bureaucrat J Syamala Rao and appointed him at the top administrative post in the TTD about three weeks ago, the new TTD EO has spent his time studying the functioning of the queue lines, issuance of VIP darshan tickets and arjitha seva tickets under the discretionary quota, allotment of accommodation to the devotees in the general and the recommendation quota etc.
He has also thoroughly studied the systems involved in distribution of water, milk and food to the devotees at the queue lines as well as the distribution of Nithya Annaprasadam to the visiting devotees
As streamlining the TTD administration and rendering pilgrim services in an utmost transparent manner was the most important task among others that was entrusted to the new TTD EO, he has reportedly given a free hand to the trust's internal vigilance and security department to crack the whip against the middlemen involved in black-marketing darshan tickets and accommodation at Tirumala.
After it emerged during the course of the reviews that based on the complaints lodged by the TTD vigilance and security department, the Tirumala police had registered about 279 black-marketing cases in the last five years.
While about 589 persons were framed in connection with these cases, only 208 middlemen could be nabbed by the police.
And among the remaining 337 accused, police could serve notices under 41 CrPC to only 41 accused, while the remaining have been untraceable.
Since the new govt assumed office in June, about 12 black-marketing cases of darshan tickets and accommodation has been booked by the police, in connection with which chargesheet was also filed in 11 cases.
With instances of obtaining darshan tickets as well as accommodation by using fake Aadhar cards on the rise at Tirumala, TTD vigilance and security wing is enforcing various counter measures to effectively tackle this new menace.