KOCHI: A gold merchant from Bengaluru has offered Rs 700 crore as 'thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings' he received from the deity of Kerala's famous Chottanikkara Devi Temple.
Gaanasravan, who visited the temple on Monday along with his family members and top officials of the 'Swamiji Group of Companies', said he has offered to cover the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with gold plates and build a 500-bed super speciality hospital which will provide free treatment to all. This will be the biggest hospital offering free treatment in South India.
"A 500-bed super speciality hospital will be established at Chottanikkara and offer free treatment to all irrespective of religion, caste or creed. We are planning to build 7 guest houses with 300 rooms each apart from a VIP guest house. An old age home with a capacity to accommodate 200 people will be established as part of the development. There will be an orphanage and an auditorium with seating capacity for 5,000 people. We will be developing Chottanikkara as an international pilgrimage centre on the lines of Tirupati," he said.
While Rs 300 crore will go towards temple renovation, Rs 400 crore will be spent on infrastructure development including the hospital, guest houses, auditorium, sewage treatment plant, water supply scheme and ring roads.
Apart from widening the roads in the town, two ring roads will be developed to ease the traffic. There will be two massive gopurams at the eastern and western entrance which will be built using laterite stones. The temple pond in front of the Keezhkavu temple will be renovated and a dining hall will be built for annadanam (free food distribution) at an expense of Rs 3 crore.
The temple struggles to contain the rush during the Chottanikkara Makam festival and often the ground of the Chottanikkara school is used to accommodate the vehicles. Gaanasravan has assured to provide Rs 50 crore for land acquisition which will help to provide basic amenities including a dedicated parking lot.
"The work will be executed by the construction wing of Gaanasravan's company under the supervision of the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB). A joint account will be opened in the name of Swamiji Group and the CDB and the entire amount for each phase of the work will be transferred into this account before the work starts. If needed, the CDB will appoint a chief engineer to monitor the works. They have agreed to pay Rs 5 crore to the CDB after signing the MoU for preparatory work," said CDB member M K Sivarajan.
"I was born in a family of musicians at a village around 80 km from Bengaluru. Five years ago, my Guru told me to offer prayers at Chottanikkara temple which changed my destiny. My gold business flourished and could extend trade across the globe. I believe it is the blessings of Amma that brought me good fortune. So I decided to spend part of my earnings for the development of this temple," Gaanasravan told The New Indian Express.
"We have approached the Devaswom bench of the Kerala High Court for sanction and once the court gives the nod, we will start the work within a month. We expect to start the work in January 2021 and the project will be completed within six years," he said.