The Tirupati Temple Trust in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh has received a donation of Rs 1 crore. The donation was made by a devotee from Chennai especially for the free food scheme run for the devotees. A devotee from Chennai donated Rs 1 crore to the SV Annaprasadam Trust of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) on Friday. Venkatesh Kannappan donated the amount in the form of a demand draft to TTD Additional Executive Officer CH Venkaiah Chowdhary at Ranganayakula Mandapam. 

"Kannapan has donated Rs 1 crore to TTD's SV Annaprasadam Trust," the temple body said in an official press release. Former CM N T Rama Rao had launched the Venkateswara Nitya Annadanam endowment scheme in 1985 to serve free meals to 2,000 pilgrims daily. Later, it was converted into an independent trust named Sri Venkateswara Nitya Annadanam Trust in 1994 and in 2014 it was renamed as Sri Venkateswara Annaprasadam Trust.

Free meals are available three times a day

Running on donations from around the world, the trust deposits money in nationalised banks and the interest earned on them covers the cost of serving food to devotees. It gives beverages to thousands of devotees free of cost and serves food three times a day.

Tirupati Balaji is the richest temple in the country

Tirupati Balaji is the richest temple in the country. The temple has assets worth more than Rs 2.5 lakh crore. According to reports, there is also more than 10 tonnes of gold, about Rs 16000 crore and other assets. The operations and finances of the Tirupati temple are overseen by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD). TTD is an independent government trust in India, managed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. It is headquartered in Tirumala, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.