Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala and other gods in various temples in and around Tirumala, under the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, are offered 2.90 lakh kg flowers annually, the TTD has informed the government. On an average, 800 kg flowers are consumed every day to make garlands, bouquets and for other floral preparations, a big chunk of which go to Lord Venkateswara.
The TTD gave the details when it recently sent a communiqué to the state government, seeking a go-ahead to get the services of more garland-makers. According to TTD officials, while they require 150 flower tiers, or garland makers, till date they had only one employee officially in that post. According to officials, TTD engages services of gardeners to make garlands and so forth. Each garland maker ties around seven kg flowers as garlands and bouquets each day, and taking into account the requirement to tie 800 kg flowers every day, the TTD would require nearly 115 such persons, officials pointed out.
While TTD executive officer L.V. Subramanyam recently wrote to the government about the need to promote 100 gardeners to “flower tiers”, the government accepted the proposal to upgrade 34 gardeners. The TTD Board’s request has been pending since 2009.
“The government, after careful examination of the proposal, accorded sanction for upgrade of 34 posts of gardeners (or one-third of the proposed 100 posts) to that of flower tiers at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams,” said Dr D. Sambasiva Rao, principal secretary, finance. The TTD has its own gardens spread over 460 acres in Tirumala and Tirupati, which, besides being a tourist attraction, meet its requirement for flower. It supplies flowers required for various sevas, garlands to adorn the deities and to decorate the mandapams, pandals, vahanas on festive occasions.