Ganesh laddu of Hyderabad pandal fetches ?45 lakh in auction

A laddu at a Ganpati pandal in Hyderabad fetched a whopping ?45 lakh in an auction held on Saturday. The auction for the 12-kg laddu prasad (sacred offering) at Marakatha Shree Lakshmi Ganapati Utsav Pandal in Kanojiguda of Secunderabad fetched the highest bid from a couple Venkata Rao and Geetapriya. The couple had also bagged the sacred laddu at last year’s auction, according to a report by New Indian Express.

It is a tradition in Telugu-speaking states to auction laddu made for Lord Ganesha and the winner is believed to get god's special blessing in form of the prasad. The winning bid was the highest for a laddu prasad across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The second-highest winning bid in the state was for Balapur Ganesh laddu, which fetched ? 24.60 lakh a day ago.

V Laxma Reddy, a local farmer and realtor made the successful bid for the Balapur laddu. Last year the laddu fetched ?18.90 lakh.

The 10-day Ganpati festival was celebrated with special fervour and pomp this year as Covid-related restrictions had been playing spoilsport in for the last two years. The festival culminated with immersion processions across the country last week. Over 35,000 police personnel were deployed to oversee smooth conduct of the event in the three police commissionarates- Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda, reported PTI.

In Mumbai alone, more than 19,000 Ganesh idols were immersed till late Friday evening even as the processions of many Ganesh Mandals were still going on.