Tirupati resumes sale of laddus in Andhra, devotees can also order them online

Around 2.4 lakh laddus were distributed in 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh at a subsidised price on Wednesday. According to TTD, the laddus can be ordered online and collected from the nearest TTD centre or TTD kalyana mandapam in the state. 

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the temple board which manages the hill shrine of Lord Balaji at Tirupati, resumed the sale of ‘laddu prasadam’ on Monday. About 2.4 lakh ‘Tirupati laddus’ were sold on the first day of sales at subsidised price in headquarters of 12 districts in Andhra Pradesh on Monday, a temple official told news agency PTI.

The laddus were distributed at all the district headquarters and TTD kalyana mandapams in the 12 districts. However, Guntur district was barred from selling the, because of the severe Covid-19 impact and the stock meant for the district was shifted to nearby Vijayawada, he said.

The sale of the laddus had been halted in the state owing to the lockdown in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to TTD, the laddus can be ordered online and collected from the nearest TTD centre or TTD kalyana mandapam in the state.

Observing all Covid-19 guidelines in the presence of local government machinery, the devotees queued up at TTD marriage halls and TTD Information Centres for the prasadam. The whole stock of laddus was sold within a few hours in the districts of the state, the official told PTI.

The laddu, which is priced at Rs. 50 each, was sold at Rs 25 as a token of gift to the 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 tens of thousands from across the country every day during normal times has been barred since March 20 to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The TTD (Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanom) that governs the hill shrine is awaiting the nod of governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana to transport the laddus to devotees in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad during the lockdown, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)