More than 1.9 mn devotees visit Tirupati temple in Feb, offer Rs 112 cr

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati received offerings worth Rs 112 crore in February from more than 19 lakh devotees, said an official on Saturday.

TTD Executive Officer (EO) A V Dharma Reddy shared the statistics for February with reporters after concluding the monthly Dial Your EO programme.

Hundi (offerings) collections amounted to Rs 112 crore while more than 19 lakh devotees had darshan (visit) in February, said Reddy in a press release.

The executive officer also noted that more than 95 lakh laddus (consecrated sweets) were sold in February.

Reddy also said that the temple body has decided to allot 85 percent of the 7,500 rooms available at Tirumala, adequate for 45,000 persons, to common devotees.

However, he advised devotees to stay at Tirupati itself as more accommodation over and above this quota cannot be provided in Tirumala. The EO also highlighted that Sri Padmavati Children's Heart Centre set a record by performing 12 heart transplants and 2,485 heart operations in the past two years.