Donation of Rs 96.98 crore in 10 hours… All old records of faith broken in Tirumala, why did so much donation suddenly increase?

Andhra Pradesh News: Srivari Temple, situated on the hills of Tirumala, called Vaikuntam of Kaliyuga, has set an unprecedented record in the matter of donations. For the first time in the history of the temple, a record breaking donation of Rs 96.98 crore has been received within just 10 hours. Just before the new donation policy brought by the TTD Board to facilitate darshan of common devotees came into effect, donors poured in money through online and offline channels to take advantage of the old privileges.

This historic record was made when the Governing Council of TTD announced major changes in the donation scheme. Information about the decisions taken in the TTD Board meeting was shared on 14th of this month at 2 pm. The Executive Officer (EO) clarified that the old facilities available to the donors will remain valid only till 12 midnight of 14th, after which the new policy will come into effect.

After the announcement at 2 pm, donors had only 10 hours left. Under the old system, devotees from India and abroad lined up at digital transaction and offline counters to get VIP and special darshan facilities. As a result, on 14th alone, TTD received a record breaking donation of Rs 96.98 crore.

Complete mathematics of donors: Who donated how much?

According to the official data released by TTD, donors from small to big participated enthusiastically in this 10-hour period.

• Online Donor: 2,354 people transferred their amount through internet sitting at home.
• Offline donors: 106 devotees reached Tirumala and deposited donations directly at the counters.
• Between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh: A total of 1,212 devotees contributed in this category.
• Between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh: 1,246 donors participated in this middle-upper category.
• Rs 1 crore or more: Two big industrialists/devotees of the country made personal donations of more than Rs 1 crore.

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Old donation policy: For which devotees emptied the coffers

With this bumper donation, the total number of registered donors in TTD has increased to 1,97,888 till June 26. The main reason for this competition among the devotees was the privileges of VIP Darshan and Suprabhatam Seva available under the old policy, which are as follows:

• Rs 1 lakh: Special darshan ticket worth Rs 300 once a year.
• Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh: Opportunity for quick darshan through ‘Supatham’ one to three times a year.
• Rs 10 lakh: Entitlement to Supatham once a year and prestigious VIP break darshan once.
• Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh: VIP break darshan two to three times a year and Supatham entry up to three times.
• Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh: Three times VIP darshan, four times Supatham and a total of 10 to 12 Suprabhatam service tickets (limit of usage of two tickets per year).
• Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore or more: Included the grand privilege of VIP darshan three to four times a year, Supatham four times and a total of 20 to 40 Suprabhatam service tickets.

Why was the donation policy changed?

TTD Board members had constituted a special committee to deal with the ever increasing crowd of common devotees and to improve their darshan timings. After the study of the committee, it was found that due to excessive VIP quota given to the donors, common devotees have to wait for 20 to 30 hours for darshan. In order to remove this discrepancy and to give priority to the common devotees, a new donor policy has been implemented by making some cuts in the facilities.