Bhadradri temple authorities plan to hike puja rates

Bhadrachalam: Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam authorities are planning to increase the prices of puja and Nithya Kalyanam. As part of it, the officials have sent proposals of increasing puja prices to the Endowment Commissioner for approval.

According to information, the rates of puja rituals, which are above Rs 500 till now, will be increased to Rs 550 and those, which are above Rs 1,000 now, will be increased to Rs 1,100. Other puja rituals, whose tickets are below Rs 500 will continue to be same.

According to temple officials, Nithya Kalyanam, Antaralaya abhisekham, Pattabhisekham (once in a month) and Sudarshana homam puja prices have increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 and Suvarna Pushparchana and Tulasi archana puja prices will be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 550.

Supporting their proposal for price hike, the temple officials said that goshala maintenance has become a burden for the temple, which is already suffering with low income for the last few months due to Covid-19.

Every month the officials are spending Rs 2 lakh to provide food and other facilities to about 27 cows at the goshala, they added.

The Temple officials, in a recent internal meeting, have decided to transfer the additional amount collected through puja and other rituals to goshala maintenance account.

But, devotees and political parties' leaders are finding fault with the temple official's decision to increase puja tickets' prices.

BJP leader Yerram Raju Behra alleged that the Endowment officials are making the temple as a commercial centre.

If the temple authorities are facing problems in the

maintenance of goshala,

then they should raise funds but should not increase prices of puja rituals, which will burden the common devotees, he observed.