Tirumala Annaprasadam serves over 9 crore meals in first nine months of 2026
Tirumala, Oct 7 (TNT): The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Annaprasadam wing distributed more than nine crore servings of free food between January and September 2026, providing round-the-clock meals to devotees visiting the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara.
The Annaprasadam service, which began in 1985 with around 2,000 servings a day, has grown into a large-scale food service operation, currently providing nearly 1.8 lakh servings daily and more than three lakh servings on peak days, according to TTD.
The service is operated through three main kitchens — Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Centre, Sri Akshaya Kitchen and Vakulamatha Kitchen — which function in shifts to ensure uninterrupted supply of food.
The Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Centre serves more than 80,000 devotees a day, offering breakfast items including upma, pongal, chutney and sambar, besides rice, curry, vada, sambar, rasam, buttermilk and sweet pongal for lunch and dinner.
The Sri Akshaya Kitchen prepares wheat rava and suji rava upma, pongal, sambar rice, curd rice, tomato rice, sundal, milk, tea and coffee. During crowded days, buttermilk, almond milk, biscuits and juice packs are also distributed.
The Vakulamatha Kitchen caters to accommodation complexes, the Central Reception Office, Rambaghicha Rest House, Anjadri Nilayam and other pilgrim facilities.
The Annaprasadam wing uses around 15,788 kg of rice, 3.1 tonnes of sunflower oil, 2.86 tonnes of toor dal, 2.83 tonnes of suji rava and 2.82 tonnes of wheat rava, besides around 4,375 coconuts and other ingredients every day.
The free food service is also extended beyond dining halls to devotees waiting in the Vaikuntam Queue Complexes, Narayanagiri sheds and other queue lines, with the objective of ensuring that pilgrims do not remain hungry while waiting for darshan.
The Sri Venkateswara Nityannadanam Scheme was launched on April 6, 1985, under the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and was converted into a trust in 1994.
The Sri Venkateswara Annaprasadam Trust currently has fixed deposits of more than Rs 2,900 crore, with interest income used to finance the daily preparation and distribution of free meals.
TTD has introduced several measures to expand the service, including the Vakulamatha Centralised Kitchen in 2024, which extended food distribution to 28 additional locations, and dining halls at PAC-5 (Venkadri Nilayam) with a capacity to seat around 1,500 people at a time.
TTD is also planning a satellite automated kitchen capable of preparing food for two lakh devotees a day and installing QR-code donation kiosks at the MTVAC kitchen to facilitate contributions from devotees.
More than 1,000 TTD Annaprasadam staff and Srivari Seva volunteers work in shifts to manage cooking, packing and distribution at dining halls, queue lines and accommodation centres.
TNT TS
