No special tickets will be available for this year’s Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at Sri Parthasarathy Perumal temple in Triplicane. The festival falls on Saturday and free darshan will start by 6 a.m.
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister P. K. Sekarbabu said that the department had been slowly attempting to do away with special darshan tickets in temples as the government wants all devotees to be treated equally.
The Pournami darshan at the Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai had been made free for the past few months. At the Parthasarathy Perumal temple, devotees seeking free darshan can enter through the east gopuram.
On T. P. Koil Street, arrangements have been made to permit those entering the temple for the Sorgavasal event from 2.30 a.m. A total of 850 Ubhayadarars and Kattalaidhars (those who had contributed to various rituals and those who had rights) would be allowed through this side. At the same entrance, a separate queue would be formed for senior citizens above 70 years of age and for those with disabilities, he said.
Necessary arrangements have been made for devotees going to the temple on that day. Around 75,000 devotees are expected to have darshan on Vaikunta Ekadasi at the temple.
