Balapur Laddu auction fetches Rs 7.5 lakh

The laddu offering kept at the Ganesh idol at Balapur pandal has fetched a record sum of Rs 7.50 lakh for the organisers when it was auctioned ahead of the commencement of the centralised Ganesh idol immersion procession in Hyderabad on Saturday morning.

Pannala Goverdhan Reddy bid the record sum to take possession of the laddu weighing about 21 kgs, which he plans to distribute to his kith and kin. In the auction held at Balapur , as many as19 devotees bid for the laddu. Pannala Goverdhan Reddy is the son of former Balapur sarpanch Narasimha Reddy.

Goverdhan Reddy said that he fulfilled the long dream of his father by fetching the laddu. The laddu will be sprinkled in agricultural fields with the belief that Lord Ganesha would shower his blessings.

Last year Kolan Mohan Reddy and his brother Kolan Krishna Reddy bid highest amount of Rs 5.45 lakh and took possession of the laddu for five consecutive years. The auctioning of laddus kept at the Ganesh pandals began in 1994 where it fetched Rs 450. The money generated through the auctions is used for development of the localities.

However, the huge laddu placed on the hand of Lord Ganesh is not auctioned but distributed to devotees.