TTD to consider establishing eye bank soon: Executive officer AV Dharma Reddy

TIRUPATI: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy on Friday said that the temple trust will actively consider the plea of a devotee to establish an eye bank soon.
After the dial your EO programme at Tirumala on Friday, AV Dharma Reddy underlined the significant contributions made by the TTD to the field of medical health and research by establishing state of the art speciality hospitals and universities.
"Today, during the dial your EO programme, a devotee suggested to the temple trust to establish a netra-danam trust which is a very good proposal. Similar to the blood bank established by us, an eye bank will also be established soon", AV Dharma Reddy said.
Meanwhile, TTD EO clarified to the devotees that the temple trust was making the best of arrangements to ensure a hassle-free pilgrimage to the common devotees during the ensuing summer vacations when the influx of pilgrim crowds is generally on the higher side.
TTD has cut down the daily quota of Rs 300 special entry darshan tickets through advanced online booking to 11,000 tickets from 20,000 tickets.
On the other hand, TTD received Rs 120.29 crore Hundi collections in March this year as 20.57 lakh devotees worshipped at the hill temple during the one-month period.
Meanwhile, Reddy noted that the facial recognition technology implemented by the TTD at the accommodation counters at Tirumala was yielding great results both in terms of improved occupancy and vacancy ratios as well as in terms of revenue.
TTD JEOs Sada Bhargavi, V Veerabrahmam, public relations officer Talari Ravi and others took part in the dial your EO programme held at Tirumala on Friday.