The Yatri Nivas at Srirangam is to be declared open by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa soon.
The Chief Minister is likely to visit Srirangam this month, to inaugurate the Yatri Nivas built behind the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, according to sources in the district administration.
The project, executed at a cost of about Rs.43 crore, was announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa soon after she was elected from the Srirangam constituency in 2011. She laid the foundation for the project in June the same year.
The opening of the Yatri Nivas will come as a boon for devotees visiting the Srirangam temple and the nearby Sri Jambukeswarar Akilandeswari Temple at Thiruvanaikovil as the island town of Srirangam has very few hotels. Resembling a resort on the banks of the Coleroon, the Yatri Nivas can provide accommodation to as many as 1,000 devotees.
Ms. Jayalalithaa is also expected to formally inaugurate the check dam built across the Cauvery River at Kambarasampettai in her constituency. The check dam was built at a cost of Rs.32 crore following a public outcry over the heavy exploitation of the river bed for several drinking water schemes catering to the needs of various cities and towns as far as Ramanathapuram.
The check dam, heading up a substantial quantity of water in the otherwise dry Cauvery, has turned a picnic spot for city residents this summer. It has also helped civic authorities to tide over the summer comfortably as the water stored at the check dam helped recharge the City’s drinking water sources situated on the river bed.
The new building for Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women at Navalur Kuttapattu in Srirangam constituency would also be opened by Ms. Jayalalithaa. The college, started in July 2011, has been functioning temporarily from the TNAU Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute. The State government had sanctioned Rs.40 crore for creation of the necessary infrastructure for the college including the new building.
