Tirupati "laddu" subsidised sales to start in Hyderabad from tomorrow

The famous "Tirupati laddu", the sacred "prasad" of the ancient nearby hill temple of Lord Venkateswara, will be available for purchase by devotees in Hyderabad from Sunday. The "laddus" would be made available at the information centre of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that governs the shrine, at Himayat Nagar in Hyderabad, a temple official told P T I on Saturday.

The official said the "laddus" were transported to Hyderabad this evening. After getting the Telangana government's nod, TTD sent the trucks loaded with about 60,000 "laddus" to the capital city of Telangana, the official added.

The "laddu," which is priced at Rs 50 each, would be sold at Rs 25 as a token of gift to devotees during the COVID-19 lockdown period, he said. The entry of devotees to the more than 2,000-year-old temple, that used to draw thousands from across the country every day during normal times, has been barred since March 25 to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the TTD came up with the plan to sell the "laddus" at a subsidised price in places including Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. As part of it, it had on May 25 commenced sales of "laddus" in Andhra and until this evening a total of about 12 lakh laddus were sold there, the official said. The TTD is awaiting a nod from governments in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to transport the sacred "prasad" to be sold to devotees there also, he said.

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