7.5 tonne 'maha laddu' kicks off Ganesh festival in AP

Huge 'maha laddus' of 7,500 kg and 5,000 kg made with great dollops of ghee and packed with almonds and cashew nuts have been prepared by two confectionery shops here for the ten-day Ganesh festival beginning on Friday.

The two 'laddus' will be dispatched to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Khairtabad in Hyderabad for the festival tomorrow.

The Sri Bhakthanjaneya Sweets here has prepared a 7,500 kg laddu for a pandal of Visakha Youth Association, Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam where it will be sent today, shop manager Saladi Venkateswara Rao alias Srinu Babu said.

This year, the shop has also received other orders for 480 laddus weighing between 10 and 1,200 kg, he said.

"We received orders from East and West Godavari districts, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and other parts of Telanagana and Andhra Pradesh," he said.

He claimed that his shop has set various records for making huge laddus.

Besides, the 5,000 kg (weight excluding vessel measurement) is being taken to Hyderabad today on a trolley, after a procession was organised in Tapeswaram here, Surchi Sweets owner P Mallikarjun Rao said.

"We will reach Hyderabad by evening where we will hand over the laddu to Ganesh Utsava Samithi of 60-feet Ganesh idol installed at Khairtabad where lakhs of devotees come for the darshan of Ganesh and witnesses the 'maha laddu'. The laddu will be placed on the hand of the Ganesh idol on August 29, after performing pooja," Babu said.

Last year, they had prepared a 4,200 kg laddu for the 56-ft Khairtabad Ganesh which got damaged in rain. The huge laddu was later dumped in the Hussain Sagar lake after an inspection by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials who declared it "inedible", he said.

"This year we have prepared a umbrella for the sweet, to shield it from rain," he said.

The huge laddu is made with 150 kgs of cashew nuts, 10 kgs yellow camphor, 90 kgs almonds, 30 kg cardamom, 1,000 kg of ghee, 1,450 kg of bengal gram and 2,200 kg of sugar, Babu said, adding the cost of laddu is around Rs 18 lakh which is being borne by him.

He said he was glad that they have been able to prepare a bigger and heavier laddu than last year.

-PTI