AP capital’s bhumi puja to be at Thallayapalem

Decision arrived at after taking vaastu into consideration. Undavalli and Penumaka villages too fulfilled the criteria but were rejected because of stiff resistance.

May 24, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 11:12 am IST - GUNTUR:

Thallayapalem hamlet in Mandhadam gram panchayat in Thullur mandal is the place where Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will perform the bhoomi pooja for the new capital of Andhra Pradesh at 8.49 a.m. on June 6.

Thallayapalem is located around 15 km from Rayapudi and adjacent to Mandhadam village. The hamlet is known for its banana plantations.

Vaastu considerations seem to have gone into the decision to perform the bhoomi puja in this hamlet. Ministers scouting for a suitable site were asked to look for locations northeast of the Krishna and facing the river. Undavalli and Penumaka villages too fulfilled the criteria but were rejected because of stiff resistance to the government’s land pooling scheme in the two villages. So it had to be Thallayapalem.

Within the village, the exact site of the bhoomi pooja is a choice between two possible locations, one right on the river bank and another within the hamlet, according to a senior official.

Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana along with Joint Collector Ch. Sridhar visited the two locations on Saturday.

“The exact location will be finalised after discussing security aspects in a couple of days,” the official said. Sources, however, said a 10-acre plot that belonged to Thullur ZPTC member Bezawada Narendra had been identified for the ceremony.

Capital Region Development Authority Commissioner N. Srikanth said the location of the ceremony was no indication that the government was intent on locating any future facility there. The ceremony is, in fact, a nod to the village tradition of ‘Bodrai’ in which a stone is consecrated to mark the founding of a new habitation.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.