TTD to sell vada as prasadam at special counters

Tirumala: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is getting ready to sell vada prasadam to devotees who visit the shrine. At present, the devotees get Vada Prasadam if they take part in the special services. However, now devotees who visit the temple will also get the prasadam without recommendation letters from the TTD officials.

Earlier, the cost of each vada was Rs. 20 but the TTD has raised the price to Rs. 100 and plans to make it available to all devotees at special counters. TTD will start distributing vada prasadam to devotees from Thursday, but the officials said they will start it practically within a couple of days.

It may be recalled that the TTD had started distributing laddu from 1 February free of cost to the devotees. It had also started giving kalyanam laddu to devotees even though people don’t participate in the special activities of the temple. Apart from the free laddu prasadam, now, these kalyanam laddus are being sold at the special counters at Rs. 200 each and the TTD is preparing to stock at least 10,000 per day. Now, devotees are buying around 5,000 to 6,000 of these per day from the counters.

There is a huge demand for the big-sized kalyanam laddus which many people buy to gift it to politicians and senior officials who visit Delhi. It is an attraction for the northerners, employees say.