Tirupati

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which manage the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near here, today approved a Rs 2,678 crore budget for fiscal 2016-17.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy and Executive Officer, D Sambhasiva Rao said of the total budget, cash offerings to be made by over two crore devotees in the Hundi (offering box) was expected to net about Rs 1,010 crore while interest on investments deposited in various nationalized banks was estimated to account for Rs 757 crore.

The sale of human hair offered by millions of devotees after getting their heads tonsured was expected to fetch Rs 150 crore while sale of different worship tickets, including the Rs 500 VIP tickets and other pre-dawn rituals tickets was estimated to net Rs 264 crore, TTD officials told reporters.

A sum of Rs 1,14.5 crore was expected from letting out different accommodations allotted to the devotees, they said.

‘Laddu prasadam’ sales was expected to account for Rs 175 crore while receipts from rental charges of different TTD premises including shops and restaurants and sale of publications was estimated to fetch Rs 133 crore.

They said Rs 500 crore was estimated for payments of salaries and other wages to about 9,000 strong TTD staff while Rs 199.25 crore has been projected for outsourcing expenses.

An amount of Rs 160 crore is expected to be spent for several engineering works and Rs 121 crore for propagation of Hindu Dharma. PTI