The executive Officer of TTD explains the process of identifying ‘impure laddoos’

Sep 20, 2024

Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), September 20 (ANI): Executive officer of Tirumala Tirupathi Devastanam (TTD), Shamala Rao said that when he took over as executive officer TTD, the CM expressed concern on the ghee procured and the quality of the laddu which is considered to be very sacred and offered as 'Prasadam' to Lord Venkateswara Swamy, then they send it to the lab for testing result of which has been shocking. Shamala Rao said, “When I took over as executive officer TTD, the CM expressed concern on the ghee procured and the quality of the laddu which is considered to be very sacred and offered as 'Prasadam' to Lord Venkateswara Swamy. Any deviation in the quality will cause doing 'apavithram' (doing something which is not sacred). He wanted me to take steps to ensure that the sanctity of this temple is restored including getting pure cow milk ghee. We started working on that. We found that we don't have any internal lab to test adulteration in the ghee. There is no system to check the quality of ghee in outside labs also... The rates quoted by tenderers are unviable, they are so low that anyone can say that pure cow ghee cannot cost so less. We warned all suppliers, that they will be blacklisted if the ghee supplied doesn't pass the lab test. We collected all samples and sent it to the best lab, it is government-controlled, and the reports have come and are shocking.”