Call it a belated New Year gift. Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam has jacked up the price of tickets for darshan and pooja. The revised ticket rates will come into force from Wednesday.
Continuing their revenue generation spree, the rates of darshan and pooja tickets were doubled. Just three and months ago, the temple revised the rate of laddu, which is much sought after prasadam by the devotees.
Much to the dismay of the devotees thronging the temple, the authorities have scrapped the Rs.5 darshan ticket, which has a wide patronage. The VIP ticket which cost Rs.50 per head will now cost Rs.100. The price of seeghra darhsan, Rs.25 ticket, has been lowered and pegged at Rs.20. The hike in ticket rates apart, all the devotees are not entitled for antaralaya darsan. The VIPs who purchased Rs.100 ticket will only be allowed. The rest will have to be content with Mukha dwara darshan.
Participating in temple poojas will also be dearer with the management doubling the fee for Ashotottaram and Sahasranamarchana. The devotees had an opportunity to participate in ashtottaram with just Rs.25, while sahasranamarchana pooja used to be performed at Rs.50.
The temple authorities revised the laddu rates. The 80 gram laddu, which was sold at Rs. 5 in September 2011, is now being sold at Rs.10. However, the weight of the laddu has been increased to 100 grams.
Weight reduced
Though there was no change in the rate of pulihora, its weight is reduced from 200 grams to 150 grams. Pulihora is being sold at Rs.5 per packet.
The temple authorities then justified the move by saying with the previous price for the laddu prasadam, the shrine had been incurring an additional expenditure of Rs.1.5 lakh a day.
The temple sells about 50,000 to 70,000 laddus on Saturdays and Sundays apart from the 30,000 on week days.
