55 passengers stranded at Tirupati as travels company throws up its hands owing to solar eclipse

Bengaluru: Pilgrims who went to seek the divine blessings of Lord Venkateshwara were in for a shock as they didn’t get to have the darshan of the lord. Around 55 passengers who are now stranded in Tirupati narrated their story. The Green Lines travels planned a trip to Tirupati on Wednesday with 55 passengers including children arriving in the city at 4 am. The passengers were instructed to freshen up at the earliest as they would be visiting the temple soon.  However, while reaching the temple, the passengers learnt that the temple was closed for solar eclipse and would re-open only on Thursday afternoon. The travel agents told the passengers to seek blessings from outside the temple with the doors closed and that they would take them back to Bengaluru. Irked with the attitude of the travel agents, the passengers were furious that travel agents took them to Tirupati knowing that the temple would be closed for solar eclipse and they were duped. A passenger named Shubha said, “Green Lines Travels have cheated us. The Tirupati package included darshan in the temple. The temple has been closed for solar eclipse and one of the concerned persons escaped as soon as passengers started questioning them. When quizzed, the Green Lines Travels agent spoke about the situation with Tirupati passengers. Abhishek, an employee, said, “We didn’t take them to Tirupati today on purpose. We were told that the temple would be open today (Wednesday) but the normal queue was closed. The temple had closed the normal queue for solar eclipse. People were allowed for darshan till 6.30 am but later it was closed. These passengers’ package included free darshan in normal queues. What can we do if the temple decides to close? How can we take the passengers to the temple? We will try and sort out the issue.”