The Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, which administers the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara, is in the process of starting an FM radio station at Tirupati.

Disclosing this to reporters, TTD executive officer A P V N Sarma said the devasthanam, through Sri Venkateswara Oriental College run by it, had applied for the license to start the station. 'Though it will primarily be an educational channel, it will have some worship material also," he said.

Sarma said the temple's darshan on the net facility, offering live audio of the poojas held at the shrine through the internet, faced some initial hickups. Efforts were on to set it right so that it could be heard all over the world, he said.

On the proposal to construct a Balaji temple in Chennai, he said the TTD Board had decided, in principle, to build the temple. The TTD had asked the Tamil Nadu government to allot a piece of land and the response was encouraging.

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Once the temple came into being, some sevas could be started for the benefit of devotees, he said. He said the security at the hill shrine had been tightened for the brahmotsavam festival, starting on October 4. All streets around the temple had been made concrete and barricades installed to avoid any stampede, he said.

Denying that there was any inordinate delay in devotees getting darshan of the deity, he said only those chosing a particular time to have darshan had to wait for 48 hours. Others could have darshan within 12 to 18 hours, he said.

Sarma said the TDD Board of Trustees was taking a lot of steps to provide more amenities to devotees. Milk would be supplied free of cost to children and old aged persons who were stranded in the queue. Giant-sized TV screens had been installed in the queue complex and the image of the presiding deity would be continously shown using the CCTV system for the benefit of the waiting devotees.

He said the TTD would soon come out a series of audio cassettes of vedic hymns. The work had already been completed on the project and a panel of experts was checking the rendering now, he said.