Devotees buying the Tirumala laddu prasadam at Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Vijayawada on Saturday. | Photo Credit: G.N. Rao

Sale of Tirumala laddus as usual at TTD-run temples in Andhra Pradesh

The laddus have landed in controversy after an NDDB lab report suggested the presence of ‘foreign fat’ in the ghee used in preparation of the prasadam at the Tirumala temple

by · The Hindu

The sale of Tirumala laddus at the temples being run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) across Andhra Pradesh continued as usual on September 21 (Saturday), amid the controversy surrounding the quality of ghee used in the preparation of the prasadam at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala.

The Tirumala laddus landed in controversy after an NDDB lab report suggested the presence of ‘foreign fat’ in the ghee used in preparation of the prasadam at the Tirumala temple.

Devotees were seen purchasing the laddu prasadam at the TTD-run Venkateswara Swamy temples since morning.

“The TTD has announced that the laddus will be sold daily at the temples run by it. But, the prasadam is available once or twice a week. We eagerly wait for Saturdays when the laddus are available,” said V. Seshagiri after purchasing the laddu prasadam from the counter at the Venkateswara Swamy temple in Vijayawada.

The TTD sells laddus at its temples at Rushikonda Hill in Visakhapatnam, Venkatapalem in Guntur district, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Jammu and Kashmir among other places.

“The TTD has supplied laddus to all its temples and the devotees are queueing up for it as usual. The TTD has sent 3,000 laddus to Venkatapalem, 4,000 to Visakhapatnam, 2,000 to Vijayawada, 10,000 laddus to Chennai, 3,000 to Bengaluru and 8,000 to Hyderabad,” said a TTD official.

“We received 500 laddus from Tirumala on September 14, 3,000 more on September 17 and 2,000 laddus on September 20 (Friday) and the sale has been good,” TTD Inspector, B. Venkateswarlu told The Hindu in Vijayawada on September 21 (Saturday).

At present, the TTD is sending laddu prasadam twice a week to its temple in Vijayawada. Devotees can purchase the laddus from the temple counter, he said.

Published - September 21, 2024 08:09 pm IST