Devotee offers 20 gold bars in Tirumala temple 'hundi'

An unidentified devotee has offered 20 gold bars to the shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala Hills, near here, a top official of the temple said on Sunday.

The gold bars weighing 2 kg were found in the 'hundi' (offering box) on Saturday when the day's collection was being counted, executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Anil Kumar Singhal said.

The TTD governs the ancient hill temple. The total cash offerings amounted to Rs 16.7 crore during the last one month after the shrine was re-opened on June 11 following the coronavirus lockdown, Singhal said. About 2.5 lakh devotees thronged the shrine during the month, he said. Meanwhile, about 67,000 devotees, who had booked tickets online for worship, did not visit the temple for different reasons, including Covid-19 related issues, Singhal said.

As many as 91 TTD staff members in the hills have tested positive for the virus as far after tests were conducted on 3,569 employees, he added.