Balapur Ganesh Laddu Fetches Rs 18.90 Lakh

The very popular Balapur Ganesh Laddu broke its own record and fetched Rs 18.90 lakh this year in an open auction held before the start of the immersion procession today in the city.

The auction for the 21-kg laddu was kicked off at 9:30 am by the Balapur Ganesh Utsav Samithi. It was eventually bought by Nadargul resident Marri Shashank Reddy along with Kadapa district (AP) MLC Ramesh Yadav.

The auction began with a bid of Rs 1,116. Thirty five devotees participated in the auction, and Yadav and Reddy finally prevailed with a record bid of Rs 18.90 lakh.

This year, the laddu got Rs 1,30,000 more than it got in 2019. A devotee named Kolanu Rami Reddy had won the sacred laddu for Rs 17.60 lakh in the bidding of 2019.

(Last year, the auction was put off due to the Covid-19 situation, and the laddu was handed over to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan by members of the Balapur Ganesh Utsav Samithi as a prasadam.)

After the auction, the Utsav Samithi members felicitated Yadav and Reddy, and presented them a 2 kg silver plate along with the laddu.

Speaking on the occasion after bagging the laddu, Yadav said that he wanted to give the laddu to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

There is a norm that any locals who bag the laddu in the auction may pay the money the next year while non-locals need to pay on the spot.

The auction was attended by several politicians, including Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and former MLA Teegala Krishna Reddy. For the first time, the auction witnessed the participation of bidders from both the Telugu states.

The police made elaborate bandobust arrangements for the peaceful conduct of the auction and the Shoba Yatra of the Ganesh idol. After special pujas, the Balapur Ganesh idol was taken in a mammoth procession of devotees for immersion.

The tradition of auctioning the laddu started in 1994 with the formation of the Balapur Ganesh Utsav Committee. In the maiden bidding, the laddu was bought by one Kolanu Mohan Reddy for Rs 450. The bid amount continued to rise year after year, and the Kolanu family dominated with Kolanu Rami Reddy winning the laddu for Rs 17.60 in 2019. As the winners of the laddu prospered well, the demand for the laddu has been rising every year.

The funds yielded from the laddu will be spent on the development of the village, temples and welfare activities.