NALGONDA: The Telangana government will develop Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple on Yadagirigutta in Nalgonda district on the lines of Tirumala-Tirupati, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has said.
Rao, who visited the temple on Friday, was received by the temple priests with Poornakumbham. After performing special pujas at the temple, he held a meeting with temple officers at Andal Nilayam on the sacred hill and discussed plans for temple development.
Speaking with mediapersons later, he said that the government had decided to acquire 2,000 acres of land around the hill, of which 400 acres will be utilised to develop Narasimha Abhayaranyam and the rest for constructing cottages, spiritual centres, kalyana mandapams and parks.
“We have also decided to increase the height of the Garbha Gudi Gopuram and plate it with gold,” he added.
All the development works will be designed by Damanna who designed the Tirumala premises. Other works will be executed under the supervision of Sthapati, a specialist in designing temples in conformity with Agama Sastra. In two or three years’ time Yadagirigutta would emerge as a big a temple city in 2,000 acres of land and the government would set up an autonomous body to administer it as in the case of Tirupati, Rao declared. For development of the temple the government would seek financial help from corporates in Hyderabad, he added.
The chief minister said that Yadagirigutta temple was situated in an area of 103 acres but the records showed the land as ‘bancharai’. He asked the district collector to change the records and allot the land to the endowments department. He promised to regularise the services of 42 NMR employees of the temple. Rao disclosed that a Jain organisation had come forward to establish a chain of spiritual centres between Saidapur village in Turkapally mandal and Musaipeta in Jagadevpur mandal in Medak district at an estimated cost of `3,000 crore. If the project fructified, Yadagirigutta and its surroundings would witness rapid development, he claimed.
Minister G Jagadeesh Reddy, Bhongiri MP Boora Narsaiah, MLAs Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Shekar Reddy and Sunitha and district collector T Chiranjeevulu accomapnied Rao.