Karimnagar: Temples extra careful in laddu preparations

Karimnagar: Devotees buy the laddus and pulihoraprasadam of the famous holy places of the district like Vemulawada, Kondagattu and Dharmapuri Devasthanam as they consider them to be very sacred.

The State Department of Endowments has been alerted due to allegations that there was a mistake in the preparation of laddus in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. The commissioner has ordered that all major temples in the state should strictly follow the order. In all the major temples of the state, orders have been issued to use only Telangana’s Vijaya dairy ghee.

Devotees who visit Vemulawada Rajanna specially buy and take away Swami’s prasadam laddus considering it as Mahaprasadam. The preparation of laddus is checked by an AEO, supervisor and staff. Laddus are prepared in anticipation of the rush of devotees. Almost every month 10, 000 to 15,000 kg of ghee is used for making laddus.

An annual income of Rs 20 crore is generated for the temple through the sale of laddu Prasadam. 650 grams of ghee is required to make a kilo of laddus. The ghee supplied to the temple has a shelf life of six months only. Accordingly, temple officials stated that quality ghee is being used in the preparation of laddus. Recently, ACB officials inspected the scales and quality standards officials also took a sample of ghee. Devotees who come to KondagattuAnjanna Temple buy PulihoraPrasadam along with Laddu. About 15, 000 laddus and 5 quintals of pulihora are made and sold on Saturdays and Tuesdays. 100 grams of laddus sold at Rs.25 and 200 grams of pulihora at Rs.20. About 25 lakh laddus are sold to the devotees every year.Officials said that 75 percent of the profit comes from pulihora as the cost of making this prasadam is low. Temple EO Ramakrishna Rao said that in the wake of the controversy over Tirumala Laddu Prasadam, the ghee supplied to Anjanna Temple in Kondagattu will also be tested. Dharmapuri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy Devasthanam Laddu also stands out. 80 grams of laddu prasadam sold Rs.20, 200 grams of pulihoraprasadam for Rs.15. Laddu prasadam are sold on an average of 2000 every day and 3 to 5000 on Saturdays and Sundays.

The inspection of the equipment is being done under the direction of the Deputy Chief Priest, concerned Store incharge, EO. Officials said that for 10 kg of laddu prasad, 7 kg of ghee, 20 kg of sugar, 700 grams of cashews, 750 grams of raisins, 100 grams of cardamom, 10 grams of camphor, 10 grams of nutmeg and 500 grams of candy sugar (Misri)is used.

For the year 2023-24, the income from laddu prasad was Rs.1,50,20,00 and from pulihora prasad was Rs.54,69,750. EO S Srinivas said that the quality standards are being followed in the case of laddu prasad in Dharmapuri Devasthanam, and they are currently taking action as per the commissioner’s orders.