Hair offering at Balaji temple fetch Rs 17.82 cr in 2 months

Tirupati, Sept 20 (PTI) The auction of human hair madeasoffering by devotees in the famous hill shrine of LordVenkateswara has fetched Rs 17.82 crore in July and Augustthis year. The auction of human hair held in July netted Rs 11.88crore while in August Rs 5.94 crore, said top officials of theTirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers thecash-rich temple thronged by lakhs of devotees. Briefing reporters after a monthly meeting of the TTDBoard, its Chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy and ExecutiveOfficer Dr D Sambasiva Rao said it had been decided to buy39.32 lakh litres of toned milk this year at a cost of Rs11.28 crore for free distribution to infants of devoteeswaiting for darshan in massive queue complexes. The temple management also made a decision to buy 2.25lakh kgs of cow ghee from Karnal Milk foods Ltd of Haryana ata cost of Rs 376 per kg, aggregating to Rs 8.46 crore for usein the making the much sought after ‘Tirupati Laddu’ and otherprasadams for next six months, they said. TTD Public Relations Officer Dr Talari Ravi later toldPTIthat the sale of human hair was expected to fetch about Rs 150crore in 2016-17 as per the projection made in the Rs 2,678crore budget of TTD for 2016-17 fiscal. Anually, about 10 million devotees, including womenandchildren, get their heads tonsured as fulfilment of vow beforeentering the more than 2000-year old hill temple, he added.PTI COR VS SMJNTR