Overwhelming response to TTD's dry flower decorative products
Dry flower-based decorative items produced by the TTD utilising used flowers from temples
Tirumala: The decorative items made of used flowers from the TTD temples proved a hit among the devotees. This was evident with the demand for the artifacts steadily increasing. Using dry flower technology (DFT), the TTD took up production with used flowers including garlands collected from TTD local temples to make the divine portraits of Gods and Goddesses besides household articles like paper weights, key chains, table calendars, pendants etc.,
The products have also earned appreciation from dignitaries who visited Tirupati- Tirumala including Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and other Ministers of State and Central as well.
The TTD and Dr YSR Horticultural University had signed an MoU on September 13, 2021 for production of Dry Flower Technology-based popular products including making the portraits of the Hindu deities including Sri Venkateswara Swamy, Sri Padmavathi Devi, Sri Rama etc.
As part of the agreement, women were given training in making products at the Citrus Research Station, where the production unit is located. The TTD has spent Rs 88 lakh on the equipment and training SHG women. As many as 340 women from Self-Help Groups were provided training and involved in the production of the artifacts. Till now, these trained women have made 22,219 portraits of A4 size and 850 other artifacts all worth Rs 1.19 crore. The TTD has commenced the sale of these portraits and artifacts to devotees from January 25 this year. The artifacts are made available at TTD information centres at Tirumala, Tirupati local temples, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Chennai.
Soon, the DFT-based products found great demand from the devotees with more and more devotees visiting the shrine keen on purchasing them to take them as mementoes to their homes and as a souvenir of their pilgrimage to cherish.
Following the growing demand for the products, the TTD has decided to construct a permanent building with more production capacity to cope with the demand.