Tirupati, March 21 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu visited the Sri Venkateswara temple here on Saturday, accompanied by family members on the occasion of his grandson's birthday.
"Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family visited the Sri Venkateswara Swamy. The family of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu visited the deity on the occasion of grandson Devansh's birthday," said an official press release.
Following the visit, they proceeded to the Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamanba Annadana complex to serve food to devotees.
The CM's family has already donated Rs 44 lakh to meet the expenses of providing food to devotees.
Until now, the CM's family has donated 12 times for Annadanam (free food to devotees).
As part of his visit to the temple, Naidu also interacted with devotees, asking about the quality of laddus and prasadam while the devotees requested him to ensure faster darshan.
Naidu told the devotees that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the official custodian of the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, will deploy Artificial Intelligence to hasten darshan.
Further, he told the devotees that the temple body has set up an integrated command control centre for the convenience of devotees.
Later, Naidu inaugurated a sophisticated and advanced Food Analysis Lab in Tirumala at a cost of Rs 25 crore.
Touring the lab, he thoroughly observed more than 50 pieces of equipment as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) executive director Panda from New Delhi and Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) director Giridhar explained their functioning.
TTD's Water and Food Analysis Laboratory in Tirumala ensures safe water and food for pilgrims by testing samples from various sources, said an official press release from the temple body.
Funded by FSSAI and Andhra Pradesh government, the 12,000 sq ft lab has dedicated 6,000 sq ft for chemical and microbiological analyses.
It is equipped with advanced machines to test fatty acids, pesticides, volatiles, mycotoxins, drugs, additives and heavy metals in foods and water.
Other equipment includes fibre, protein and fat analysers and butyro refractometer and UV-Vis spectrophotometer.
The lab can test raw materials for Srivari Prasadam, Annaprasadam and laddus. It can test up to 1,500 samples every month, the press release added.
