Tirupati. Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) on Thursday resumed the scanning of Divya Darshan (DD) tokens issued to devotees traversing the Srivari Mettu walkway to have darshan of Lord Venkateswara Swamy at Tirumala.
The DD tokens carried by the devotees will be scanned at the 1200th step, a measure that was temporarily suspended earlier this year due to leopard sightings in the area. The scanning of the tokens verifies that devotees have completed half of their trekking route before reaching the hill town. “Those who fail to get their tokens scanned will be barred from entering the Divya Darshan queue for darshan of the presiding deity,” the TTD clarified.
Devasthanam officials on Thursday conducted a trial run of the scanning process. They have requested devotees to take note of this re-introduced process while planning their pilgrimage to Tirumala.
The resumption of scanning marks a return to rules that the TTD had revised in early 2024 when security concerns arose after leopards were sighted on trekking routes. At that time, officials scanned DD tokens at the Bhudevi Complex in Tirupati, allowing devotees to completely bypass the footpaths and visit Tirumala by vehicular transport. However, darshan bypassing the footpaths led to complaints, which led to the reintroduction of the token system. Apart from scanning of tokens at Srivari Mettu, token scanning has also been resumed at the 2083rd stage and Alipiri footpaths. On Thursday, TTD Executive Officer J. Shyamala Rao inspected the facilities at the Narayanagiri shed that houses various darshan queues.
