The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ghee storage in TTD goes hi-tech

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 27, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ghee storage in TTD goes hi-tech

By Our Staff Reporter

A view of the ghee containers at Tirumala

TIRUPATI, SEPT. 26. As part of making the temple administration hassle-free and cost-effective, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has achieved yet another breakthrough, this time in logistics.

Wastage factor

The TTD requires a whopping 4.5 metric tonnes of ghee per day for preparing the famous `laddus' and other prasadam like vada, pongal, pulihora, kadambam etc.

The system in practice now is to transport the ghee in 20 kg tins by lorries. The emptying of ghee from the hundreds of tins was estimated to result in a wastage of up to 15 per cent.

To avoid incurring huge losses thus, the TTD came up with a novel idea of transporting ghee in tankers, a la petrol, and dumping the same into four huge containers recently built for this purpose near the laddu counters.

The new system can store up to 20,000 kg of ghee, with each of the containers having a capacity to hold 5,000 kg. The system also ensures that the requirement for four days is made available to the temple to avoid undersupply, as the demand varies between slack and peak days.

Pipeline laid

A pipeline has also been laid to link the containers to the temple kitchen (Potu) and ghee can be pumped as per the requirement.

Frozen ghee stuck to the bottom of the container is one problem normally faced during winter.

With Tirumala being a hill station, the mercury always hovers low and the problem in this case is more chronic than elsewhere.

In order to address this, a double-jacketed pipeline has been laid, through the outer layer of which steam can be passed into the container to make the ghee melt.

To make the job of filling ghee from the tankers into the said containers easy and pilferage-proof, a Rs.3.5 lakh electronic weighbridge, donated by a Chennai-based devotee, has been installed.

The system is expected to become operational by October 1.

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