Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Curbs on ritual to stay

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI DEC. 28. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which has taken a decision early this month to impose curbs on the performance of `anga pradakshinam', a pre-dawn ritual observed by the pilgrims, asserted that there would be no change in the decision. The decision was taken by the TTD Board at a meeting today.

The TTD at one stage offered to reconsider the decision in the wake of widespread criticism that the curbs would hurt the religious sentiments of pilgrims who perform the ritual at 3 a.m. daily to get their vows fulfilled. The curbs covered two main aspects — one with regard to the number of persons to be allowed and second on the registration of their thumb impression the previous night itself at a special counter.

The TTD wanted to fix a ceiling of 750 with regard to the persons to be allowed for the ritual against the present unrestricted number. The reason for this was that increase in the number was disrupting the performance of other pre-dawn rituals.

With regard to the thumb impression, though the TTD was saying that it would be an additional measure of security, it was being widely seen as a deterrent to discourage the crowd.

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