Tirupati: About 2.4 lakh ‘Tirupati laddus‘ of the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near here were sold on the first day of sales at subsidised price in headquarters of 12 districts in Andhra Pradesh on Monday, a temple official said.

However, Guntur district was barred from the sale of laddus because of the severe COVID-19 impact and the stock meant for the district was shifted to nearby Vijayawada, he said.

Observing all COVID-19 guidelines in the presence of local government machinery, the devotees queued up at TTD marriage halls and TTD Information Centres for the sacred prasadam.

The whole stock of laddus was sold within a few hours in the districts of the state, the official told PTI.

The laddu, which is priced at Rs 50 each, was sold at Rs 25 as a token of gift to the devotees during the COVID-19 lockdown period, he said.

The entry of devotees to the more than 2,000-year-old temple that used to draw tens of thousands from across the country every day during normal times has been barred since March 20 to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The TTD (Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanom) that governs the hill shrine is awaiting the nod of governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana to transport the laddus to devotees in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad during the lockdown, he said.