TTD appeals to devotees to use official portal, avoid middlemen for darshan tickets

TIRUPTAI (Andhra Pradesh), Aug 23 : The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, on Friday appealed to devotees to use only its official website to book the darshan tickets, avoiding unscrupulous middlemen who are fleecing them.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) noted that devotees were complaining about brokers collecting huge sums of money promising darshan tickets but they were actually being cheated.

“Use the official website, https://ttdevasthanams.Ap.Gov.In with Aadhaar card for booking online darshan and other services,” said TTD in a press release.

According to TTD, it is keen on detecting fake websites and identifying middlemen who are indulging in cheating devotees, observing that it is a regular practice by the TTD’s vigilance wing to scrutinise all tickets ahead of allowing pilgrims for darshan.

Recently, TTD officials found that four devotees from Tamil Nadu entered the temple with fake tickets for Sri Kalyanoostanam (event) and on enquiry learnt that the unsuspecting pilgrims were cheated by an internet centre operator in Vellore.

Incidentally, the operator charged a hefty amount from them and altered the last two numbers of the tickets to make them look genuine but were actually fake, prompting the temple officials to file a case against him.

Further, TTD warned of stringent action against middlemen cheating devotees. (PTI)