Lakhs of devotees witness Garuda Seva at Tirumala

Tirumala, Sept 19 (TNT): Lakhs of devotees witnessed the Garuda Vahana Seva, the most popular carrier service of the annual Brahmotsavams, at Tirumala on Saturday evening, as the hill shrine reverberated with chants of “Govinda…Govinda”.

The procession began at around 6.30 pm, when the golden Garuda carrying Lord Malayappa Swamy emerged from the Vahana Mandapam. Tens of thousands of devotees occupied the galleries along the four Mada streets to witness the procession.

TTD made extensive arrangements for the devotees, with 190 galleries having a holding capacity of around 1.8 lakh people along the four Mada streets. Most of the galleries had been packed since Friday night, officials said.

Milk, Annaprasadam, beverages and snacks were supplied to devotees waiting in the galleries from the early hours of Saturday.

Around 2,000 Srivari Seva volunteers were deployed exclusively for Annaprasadam and water distribution, crowd management and child-tagging services.

TTD also deployed around 600 employees and senior officials as sectoral officers at eight key locations in Tirumala to monitor facilities and arrangements round the clock.

TTD Chairman B R Naidu, Executive Officer M Ravichandra and Additional Executive Officer Ch Venkaiah Chowdary conducted regular inspections of the galleries and interacted with devotees to obtain feedback on the arrangements.

Joint Executive Officers Dr Sharath and Gopinath inspected the outer queue lines from Silathoranam and reviewed the arrangements for Annaprasadam and water distribution.

TTD CVSO Murali Krishna and SP Subbarayudu monitored crowd management in the galleries and outside queue lines and issued instructions to officials to ensure smooth arrangements for devotees.

TNT LE