TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) will roll out its own brand of incense sticks in seven different aromas in the first week of September. In what it calls the ‘waste to wealth’ mantra, the TTD will procure used garlands from its numerous temples located in Chittoor district to produce the agarbattis. The temple body runs 26 temples in Chittoor district alone.
While used garlands from Tirumala temple will not be used for now as the Agama advisory board is yet to give its consent to the proposal, they would be procured on a daily basis from Padmavathi Ammavari temple in Tiruchanoor, Govindaraja Swamy temple, Kodandarama Swamy temple and Kapila Teertham temple in Tirupati, and from other temples in the district.
Executive officer (EO) KS Jawahar Reddy said the temple body has tied up with a Bengaluru-based firm for the manufacture and marketing of the incense sticks.
The TTD has already set up a state-of-the-art incense sticks manufacturing facility in the SV dairy farm. “Separate sale counters for sale of incense sticks would be set up near the laddu counters in Tirumala, and also at several other temples and pilgrim amenities complexes in Tirupati,” he said.
