The management of the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand has tasked around 20 local women self-help groups (SHGs) with manufacturing and supplying sweets and other prasad-related items.

Earlier, the SHGs used to sell food grains and handicrafts from their stalls along the road to the shrine but now they are supplying prasad to the temple.

“We used to do this off and on but now we are getting orders regularly,” said a woman who didn’t want to be named.

“There are many SHGs like Surkanda Ajivika Samuh and Ma Gram Sangathan, Sarkhali, that have been engaged. We maintain the purity of the prasad and prepare them in cow ghee,” she added.

Ajendra Ajay, president of the Sri Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee, said: “We are extra alert and keeping a close watch on the prasad brought and distributed from our temples. The management committee of our temples are taking every possiblemeasure to ensure the purity of the prasad. We have held several meetings with food experts in the last few days and hope to maintain the quality of the bhog.”

The development assumes significance amid the recent controversy over the mixing of animal fats with ghee to make laddus (prasad) at the Tirupati temple.

The Uttarakhand government has asked the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) to conduct raids on places from where the prasad is collected or supplied to the temple, including the hotels from where the devotees purchase laddus to offer at shrines.

“We have collected samples of sweets and ghee from some places. The officers of the department across the state are alert and checking the quality of oil and ghee used in the prasad,” said Tajbar Singh, additional commissioner of the FSDA.