Devotees angry with Pawan Kalyan

Pawan Kalyan's visit to the hill-shrines, Tirumala and Simhachalam, on Sunday has caused severe inconvenience to the devotees. Being a hoiliday, thousands thronged temples to offer prayers and most of them were unaware of the visit of the star.

On the other hand, thousands of fans gathered at both the temples to have a glimpse of the actor. The enthusiasm of fans in Simhachalam resulted in a stampede causing serious injuries to two persons and a minor injury to Pawan. Making things worse, several supporters of the actor entered the Temple without removing their footwear, which hurt the sentiments of the devotees.

According to the sources, security provided to the star wasn't sufficient to control the massive crowd. The devotees, who were annoyed with the security arrangements, blamed the actor and temple authorities for the inconvenience. 'A low key visit may have been a better option,' is what they opine. Pawan has learnt a lesson from Yesterday's incident and let's wish he wouldn't repeat the mistake again!

TTD cancels VIP darshan categorization

After facing severe criticism for paving red carpet to VIPs, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board has decided to cancel the categorization of VIP darshan tickets. The categories namely - 'priority' and 'top priority' for VIP darshan are cancelled and this decision will come into effect from April 4.

The TTD Officials have informed that they would announce a new system in the coming board meeting and untill then the old VIP break darshan system with an entry fee of Rs 500 would be continued.

The TTD board also decided to conduct Kalyanamastu (mass marriages) at only 11 temples - Srisailam, Yadagirigutta, Basara, Vemulavada, Dwaraka Tirumala, Mangalagiri, Arasavelli, Annavaram, Panakala Narasimha Swamy temple in Guntur, Kanaka Durga temple and in Tirumala.

The Board allotted funds for construction of houses at Tirumala Nagar, which would benefit 151 families and also given the nod to hike the salaries of contract teachers in TTD schools. But, no decision was taken by the Board on depositing TTD funds in private banks.