The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is contemplating providing one free laddu to every devotee having a darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala. At present, only the devotees who reach Tirumala on foot are provided with one free laddu.
Should the proposal take a concrete shape, then all the devotees visiting the sacred shrine — 80,000 on an average every day — will be provided with one free laddu each.
The intention behind the proposal seems to bring in a uniform price in the sale of laddus, which currently are made available to different sections of the pilgrim community at different rates and check black marketing of the prasadam.
The fact that the VIPs are provided with two free laddus each is believed to have apparently driven the TTD to have a re-look into the indiscriminate subsidies being extended to various sections of devotees.
Additional laddus
According to the proposal, the TTD will provide one free laddu as a gift from the temple administration to every pilgrim having the darshan of the deity. The devotees can also purchase any number of additional laddus at ₹50 each, without any recommendation. At present, additional laddus are provided on the recommendation letters endorsed by certain designated TTD officials.
The management feels that the profit earned by way of marketing the laddus at the existing selling price will cover the loss arising out of the proposed ‘one free laddu to every pilgrim’ scheme.
If every thing goes on expected lines, the proposal is likely to be grounded either on ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ festival day on January 5 or Makara Sankranti on January 15.
