The most hyped project of Telangana government is the renovation of Yadadri temple on Yadagirigutta in Telangana which was gain headlines with huge budget and high-octane arrangements. Recently, temple inaugurated with an impression of world-class facilities on entire hilly region for devotees but at a heavy rain pour water on all. The hilly roads turns death trap with a poor quality works. This shows the concerns towards the much hyped project.
Whimsical decision-making, coupled with second rate execution, has become the hallmark of Kalavakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao’s regime in Telangana.The Intermediate results fiasco, chaos created by the Dharani portal, and the mishandling of the Covid pandemic are but a few glaring examples.
The latest in this series that thoroughly exposes the incompetence and skullduggery of the KCR government is the havoc created by a summer rain at Yadadri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple – known as ‘Telangana Tirupati’ – one of the popular spiritual centres in India.
KCR had created much hype, as usual, about the renovation of the Yadadri temple in his extravagant bid to match, if not outdo, the Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala — India’s richest temple situated in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. When there was no need for drawing parallels between the centuries-old places of worship, KCR and his party tried to make use of even this spiritual issue to play the sentiment card.
The plan to renovate and expand the temple from a 2,500 sq. yards area into a 14-acre temple complex containing seven temple domes, including a 100-foot main dome, inner and outer prakarams (compound walls), adorned with stone-carved pillars etc., was welcomed by the devotees.
They contributed more than 40 kg of gold to coat the main temple ‘Vimana gopuram’ along the lines of the Tirumala shrine. It was the execution that left much to be desired, giving rise to questions around competence and corruption of the regime.
Many modifications were made to the original plans reportedly at the whims of KCR, instead of experts’ advice. Nobody knows why Yadagirigutta was renamed Yadadri or why modifications were made thrice to Pushkarini and twice to Ratha Mantapam, for instance. At one point in time, KCR’s face and TRS schemes were chiselled on the temple pillars, which were removed owing to public outcry.
The government took five long years to complete the project. To say the least, a “trial and error” method was adopted by the administration much to the chagrin of devotees. Initially, the Chief Minister scrupulously went by the advice of Sri Tridandi China Jeeyar Swamy but later started cold-shouldering him after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 216-foot-tall statue of Sri Ramanujacharya (Samatha Murthi) in February 2022 at the Swamy’s invitation. KCR, for reasons best known to him and his son, had even violated protocol rules to stay away from the programme spearheaded by Jeeyer Swamy. Following that, though KCR inaugurated Yadadri temple as per the muhurtham fixed by the Swamy, the latter was not invited to the grand opening ceremony.
The occasion was turned into a partisan political event, with only TRS leaders being extended the invite. Not even the Governor nor the local Member of Parliament were invited for this auspicious occasion.
A summer rain lashed Yadadri a few days ago and laid bare the quality of renovation and rebuilding works.The entry point of the newly-constructed third ghat road caved in and a large hollow space was on full display. Roads were inundated and rainwater reached the vicinity of the temple on the hill.
The entire administrative machinery was pressed into service to ease out the drain water that flew from Panchatala Rajagopuram to Dwajasthambam. Rainwater also entered several places in Ashtabuji mandapam. The prasadam outlet rooms and queue complex next to the bus bay on the hill were waterlogged, even as the first ghat road turned unbearably muddy.
Temple authorities, naturally, tried to cover it up by saying that all is well. But devotees, who were subjected to untold discomfort due to the poor work, cursed the government on witnessing the chaos first-hand and took to social media to express their anguish. As mentioned by a local leader in his tweet, it seems God’s money has been gifted to contractors and government officers.
There were reports that some of the works were earmarked for a company owned by senior officials and their relatives.Only a probe by a high-level committee can bring out the facts.
Even as the rain exposed the chinks thoroughly, the temple authorities have issued orders to collect an exorbitant fee for the parking of vehicles.
Devotees were in for a rude shock to know that it has been decided to collect Rs.500 per vehicle for the first hour. If the vehicle is parked for more than one hour, an additional Rs.100 per hour would be charged, further angering the devotees.
Sri Narasimha Swamy is believed to have taken on the role of a ‘doctor’ (Vaidya Narasimha) at Yadadri. We can only hope and pray that he will set right the attitude of this government that is proving detrimental to the people of Telangana. #KhabarLive #hydnews
