The Tirumala temple has always been known to get huge amounts in offerings. The temple is known as the richest temple in the world after all and with reason. As worshippers throng the temple year after year seeking blessings. However, this year the temple has seen a drop in footfall. According to a report, the temple has received a donation of 20 gold bars weighing 2 kg.
Tirumala receives a donation of 20 gold bars
According to an official who told PTI on Sunday, the temple has received a donation of 20 gold bars weighing 2 kgs from an unidentified devotee. The donation was received in the 'hundi' or donation box on Saturday as the day's collections were being counted.
The temple in Tirumala, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district has for the longest time in history garnered large donations from around the world managed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). In the last month alone the temple has received Rs 16.7 crores in offerings.
Hindustan Times reported that this collection isn't nearly as much as the week's collections of the shrine during normal times. The average that the shrine receives on a normal day range between, 2.5 crores to 4 crores per day which shows a huge dip in revenue.
The shrine was shut due to the nation-wide lockdown till June 11th when it was reopened. In the last one month, the temple saw a footfall of 2.63 lakh devotees however 67,000 devotees who had previously booked tickets had cancelled them due to the outbreak in the country. For TTD 2.63 lakh devotees is not equal to the footfall of 4 days collectively in pre-COVID times.
So far the temple has seen 91 TTD employees testing positive for COVID-19 and tests have been conducted on 3,569 employees so far. None of those who tested positive at the shrine was pilgrims.
