TTD Annadanam Over one lakh devotees daily
Tirumala, Sept 18 :
A week ahead of Brahmotsavam, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has been feeding nearly one lakh visitors at Nitya Annadanam complex, Tirumala freely. The Annadanam complex started working from 8 am to facilitate the thousands of pilgrims who had waited in que for over 24 hours from the beginning of the annual festival at Tirumala.
Talking to TNN over phone on Friday, TTD Executive Officer I Y R Krishna Rao appealed to all devotees to be patient as we are making all arrangements to provide free food, and laddu prasadam and sarva darshan for all. In spite of recession and hike in cost of transport services, he said the rush of pilgrims is increasing day by day and the TTD and the state government officials are gearing up on a war footing to ensure that everyone got the benefits of all the welfare initiatives of Lord Venkateswara like free meals, free prasadam, free darshan and free accommodation.
He said that the TTD proposed to provide free meals to a minimum of one to two lakh devotees every day during the nine days of Brahmotsavam. The meal, though simple is appreciated by visitors including foreigners, tycoons and first timers as not only hygiene but also tasty. “Every one- both rich and poor want to partake meals as prasadam of the deity” say the authorities.
Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annadanam Trust:
The Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annadanam Trust founded on April 1st, 1994 had developed potential and where-with-all to provide decent, hygienic and wholesome meals twice a day for all pilgrims who set their foot on Tirumala irrespective of whether they had darahsn of the presiding deity Lord Venkateswara or not.
“What is important to us in the TTD is that everyone who comes to this holy place , by walk or by any other transport need not suffer out of exhaustion or hunger and could have darshan of deity at their convenience“ says I Y R Krishna Rao.
Corpus & popularity keeps ever growing
Smt T Chenchu Lakshmi, who is in charge of the Annadanam scheme says that right now there were nearly 500 donors who had contributed to the kitty of the Trust which has undertaken several programs including Nitya annadanam.
“Earlier we had donors for building guest rooms, Now we have more offering funds for Annadanam” she says that the dining halls of the annadanam complex are full anytime of the day with pilgrims.
The donors for the scheme had special benefits in accommodation, laddu prasadam and also darshan of the presiding deity once in a year. Donations could range from any multiplies of Rs.1000.
New Annadanam Complex
A donor from West Godavari district has come forward to construct a state of the art complex to set up hygienic and modern kitchen and dining hall for the Annadanam Trust at Tirumala at a cost of Rs 20 crore . With the new complex the TTD authorities say that they could feed nearly 4000 pilgrims in one single batch. The ultra modern kitchen will also have capacity to cook rice, dal, sambar and others faster to facilitate the huge crowds anticipated in the coming years. L & T has been chosen to build the ultra-modern complex including its kitchen and the dining hall for which designs were prepared by global experts.
In the present kitchen 12 huge vessels are steamed to produce rice at the rate of five persons for one kg rice. “But we are geared to cook rice for one to two lakh persons during the Srivari Brahmotsavam at the rate of 400 bags of rice per day”
Free supply in ‘Q’ complexes
Smt Lakshmi says that besides Annadanam, the TTD undertook to provide sumptuous feed of upma, milk, curd rice , butter milk and sambar rice on a two hours cycle to the thousands of devotees who waited in the Vaikuntam que complex for hours.
“We gave them some food items from early morning hours of 3.30 am to midnight to ensure that none of the pilgrims who waited in the serpentine ‘Q’ complexes (30 compartments in Vaikuntam ) suffered of hunger or thirst,“ she said.
To mark Brahmotsavam from September 21, the TTD plans to provide more amenities like food packets, water and butter milk packets to devotees waiting in Vaikuntam complex’s as they anticipate much larger crowds. “We are ready to take on any number of devotees as this if the first year of our free meal program and made all arrangements to ensure that the pilgrims did not suffer during the ten days of the Srivari Brahmotsavam “ says the Executive Officer.
The scheme has already attracted donors in kind and cash. Vegetable growers of Madanapalli, Chittoor, Bangalore and Chennai are sending vegetables free to the Annadanam trust daily. “We used to spend nearly Rs.50 lakhs on vegetables in the past “ says Chencu Lakshmi. But the TTD spends hardly Rs. 15 lakhs rest are all by donation. As part of Annadanam scheme, food packets are also prepared for distribution for the pilgrims who come by foot in the middle of their journey both at the Padala Mantapam or Gali Gopuram.
Clean water:
The TTD has also set in motion a process to provide clean drinking water to pilgrims. It has now permitted some philanthropists to provide mineral water plants in Tirumala at a cost of Rs 5 crore. “The plant will have capacity to provide hygienic drinking water at the rate of one lakh liters per day and the pilgrims will have to just pay Rs One per liter”.
Particularly in view of the growing menace of Swine Flu and Dengue fever, the TTD has also banned use of plastics bottles on Tirumala. Special arrangements were made for setting up water kiosks and clean drinking outlets all over Tirumala during the current Srivari Brahmotsavam.