In spite of being just two hours away from the state capital, the Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple here lacks basic facilities like accommodation, water and vehicle parking. The lack of these amenities became evident on Sunday when several devotees were forced to return without having a darshan of the Lord due to severe shortage of water.
Devotees who went to visit the hill shrine were caught unawares when they were not able to take the holy dip in the Gundam (water tank) before entering the sanctum sanctorum on Sunday. According to sources, over 15,000 devotees throng the temple on Friday, Saturday and Sunday every week.
A large number of devotees had reached Yadagirigutta on Saturday and adjusted themselves in the few available cottages but the next morning brought them bad news from the officials that there was no water for bathing.
“We wanted to take a holy dip in the Gundam but could not as the water was not fresh. So, we were forced to return back home without having a darshan,” lamented Prabhakar Rao, employee of a private company in Hyderabad.
In face, a similar situation prevails at the temple on Friday, Saturday and Sunday every week as a large number of devotees throng the temple on these days. The devasthanam has been supplying water from three borewells each at Mallapur, Gundlapally and Goshala. Due to power cuts and decrease in groundwater levels, sufficient water is not being supplied to the cottages and to the Gundam over the last few months. The situation turns worse during holidays and 'brahmotsavams'.
Meanwhile, due to lack of accodmodation, devotees are forced to sleep in the open and cook under trees. Over 100 non-AC and 30 AC rooms, apart from two dormitories on the hill top and two cottages with a total capacity of 200 people and one dormitory at the foothill are not sufficient to accommodate the large number of devotees.
Not surprisingly, most of the cottages and dormitories are in a dilapidated condition and no efforts are being made to repair them. The endowments department had demolished over 40 cottages for the Maha Prakaram project in 2008, but the project never commenced.
Speaking to Express, temple executive officer M Krishnaveni admitted that there is some delay in the construction of new cottages. "We have sent proposals for constructing new cottages on the hill top and a new dormitory with a capacity of 100 persons at the foothill to meet the immediate demand," she added.