YADADRI : The much-hyped Yadagirigutta temple development works are going behind schedule and the main temple will not be reopened to devotees for the darshan of lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy during this Dasara as announced by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao earlier.
Now, temple authorities say that it will take time at least till March for the main temple to reopen. The Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Brahmostavams are scheduled to be held in March.
“We hope that the main temple work will be completed by March. In case of further delay, the main temple will be reopened in May,” according to temple executive officer N Geetha Reddy.
With the delay in works, devotees have to visit only the makeshift temple arranged temporarily on the hillock itself. The main temple was closed on April 21, 2016 and is scheduled to be reopened during Dasara this year.
“So far we have spent Rs 300 crore on development of the temple. We require another Rs 500 crore from the state government for completion of the first-phase works,” Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA) chairman G Kishan Rao said.However, around 300 sculptors mainly from Karaikudi, Pudukkotai and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu are working on the sculptures required in the first phase.
“We plan to instal the statues of the 12 Alwars, including Andal, at the main entrance of the temple. We are carving these huge statues out of black granite (krishna sila) rock which was unearthed at Gurijepalli in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh,” chief sthapati S Sundar Rajan explained.
Work on carving the statues is going on downhill. Simultaneously, other sculpting works are progressing at Allagadda in Kurnool district, he said.