Rs 275 crore donation to Lord Venkateshwara

Tirumala, Aug 2: A whooping amount of Rs 275 crore donations have been received by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) towards Lord Venkateshwara so far from devotees across the world for the various schemes being implemented.

Addressing newspersons through a 'Dial your EO' programme, Special Officer of TTD, A V Dharma Reddy said, donations worth Rs 170 crore has been received till date from various donors across the world for the 'Sri Venkateswara Nithya Annadanam Scheme' which provides free meals to the poor in Tirumala.

The scheme was started on a small scale in 1984, with food being served to around 2,000 people every day. On Saturday, Aug 2, free food was being served to all pilgrims offering worship to Venkateswara.

The number of pilgrims availing the scheme was 25,000 to 30,000 a day during festivals and other auspicious occasions.

An amount of Rs 100 crore has accrued so far from donations to the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara Pranadana Trust which provides free medical facilities to all sections of the people, irrespective of their religion, who are afflicted with life-threatening diseases relating to heart, kidneys and brain.

A sum of Rs five crore has accrued so far from donors for 'Vidyadhana Trust', which was recently constituted, he said. Under the scheme, the TTD Board recently decided to award Rs 300 per month as scholarship to 1000 best students studying in the non-residential Municipal, Zilla Parishad and government schools in the state, he said.

UNI