Masala vada included in free meal at Tirupati canteen

TIRUPATI: Devotees on a pilgrimage to Tirumala, who make it mandatory to have a free meal at the TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams Annaprasadam canteen, will now get to savour tasty masala vadas, which the Tirupati trust has now added to its free meals menu, to provide a sense of sumptuousness to the visiting devotees.
TTD chairman BR Naidu accompanied by EO J Syamala Rao and Additional EO CH Venkaiah Chowdary formally launched the masala vada serving to the devotees at the Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam complex at Tirumala on Thursday.
According to TTD Additional EO CH Venkaiah Chowdary, Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annaprasadam scheme was launched at Tirumala by former Chief minister NT Rama Rao in 1985 to ensure delicious meals are provided free of cost to all the devotees coming for a pilgrimage to Tirumala.
“During the last four decades, Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annaprasadam trust emerged as the pioneer and front runner among various trusts floated by the TTD by attracting donations to the tune of Rs.2000 cr so far. TTD sources stated that nearly six lakh devotees extended donations to the Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annaprasadam trust in order to further strengthen the efforts of the TTD in serving top quality free meals to the devotees visiting Tirumala”, Venkaiah Chowdary added.
After Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annaprasadam trust became self reliant in 2018 and no longer had to rely on grants from the TTD to fund it’s round the clock free meal service to the devotees, the Tirupati trust mooted a novel system of attracting donations by launching a new scheme under which devotees could donate a sum of Rs.38 lakh, which will cover the entire expenditure of the TTD in terms of providing free meals to devotees for a single day.
Similarly, devotees desiring to donate the entire expenditure of the TTD for serving breakfast for all devotees can donate a sum of Rs.8 lakh and for lunch and dinner the donation sum was fixed at Rs.15 lakh each.
TTD chief BR Naidu stated that it is the constant endeavour of the Tirupati trust to keep adding more items to the existing free meal menu and to bring in significant changes to ensuring that devotees arriving at the Nithya Annaprasadam canteen are served top quality food round the clock.
“This is a trust which runs with the help of donations extended by the devotees which has committed itself to ensure not a single devotee on a pilgrimage to Tirumala goes empty stomach. Everyday approximately 1.5 lakh servings of free meals are provided to the visiting devotees and this number almost doubles during the festive and holidays season. While the masala vada is a recent addition to the free meals menu, TTD will be dishing out 35000 masala vadas onto the plates of the devotees at Tirumala daily from now on”, BR Naidu asserted.