HYDERABAD, INDIA, March 30, 2008: In a bid to tackle ticket scalping (black market sale of tickets at higher than face value) for darshan and seva and even sale of ladoos, Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD), that manages the Lord Venkateswara shrine in Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh, has now decided to set up an in-house police station. A first-of-its-kind move by any temple in the country, the police station would start functioning soon, TTD chairman Karunakar Reddy told HT. “We will be able to book cases and arrest the culprits that we were not able to do earlier. This would have a demoralizing effect on the black-marketers,” said a TTD official.
On an average, 45,000-50,000 pilgrims visit the hill-top shrine on a normal day (And nearly a lakh on festivals and holidays). With queues for darshan stretching for hours, black-marketing darshan and seva tickets has become a lucrative business. It results in the pilgrims suffering, whereas those with deep pockets buy tickets in the black-market for an easy darshan.
The Endowments act, which governs administration of temples, prohibits consumption of meat and liquor and smoking or chewing of tobacco in the pilgrim town, but there was no provision to tackle the menace of black-marketing.