Devotees who throng to the temple of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala received a shock on Friday, after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) increased the prices of all prasadams except the famed laddus.
According to the TTD authorities, the prices of jilebi have been increased from Rs. 25. to Rs. 70, that of the vada from Rs. 4 to Rs. 25, and the muruku will now cost the devotees Rs. 30 as against the earlier Rs. 4.
However, the price of the world famous laddu has not been raised. The prices of the small laddu and the large laddu remain at Rs. 25 and Rs. 100 respectively.
The new prices come into force from January 28th.
The TTD defended its decision to hike the prices by saying that the hike had been necessitated following the increase of material and production costs of the prasadams. They also said that the decision had long been overdue.
Devotees are dissatisfied with the price-hike, as they feel that the TTD can afford to sell the prasadams at a loss since the temple’s hundi collections alone amount to Rs. 1-2 crore each day.
The devotees protested that by hiking the prices, the TTD was commercializing devotion and exploiting devotees.
P. Ramu, Kanchipuram.on 30th Jan 2011, 6:07pm | Permalink
Dear Sir, There should be no protest for the prasadams price hike, as the funds go to the Devasthanams, who spend them for good and welfare measures. Though Laddus are available easily, the other prasadams Jilebi, Vada, Murukku and Appam could not be had as they are not made available at any specific counters!
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