Offering prayers at the Anjaneya Swamy Temple located near Veliminedu village on NH-65 is a risky affair.
Vehicle users proceeding towards Vijaywada from Hyderabad have to cross the road and road divider to reach the temple.
Owing to the increased vehicular flow on the highway, devotees are prone to accidents. Six months ago, a six-year-old boy was crushed to death under a truck while crossing the road along with his parents after offering prayers at the temple. The is a three to four-foot difference in the level of the road on either side of the road divider and the devotees are also finding it difficult to cross the divider here. A black spot, where accidents are reported quite frequently, has been identified by the Police and it is located very close to the temple.
Speaking to The Hindu , local Sarpanch Maddela Mallaiah urged the Endowments Department, Tourism Department and Highway authorities to work in tandem to make it a tourist place besides providing a safe passage to the devotees. He requested the officials to construct a foot-over bridge or underpass.
Mr. Mallaiah also appealed to the government to construct a tourism hotel adjacent to the National Highway and provide a parking place, sot that the road users can freshen themselves before offering the prayers. Former chairman of the temple U. Venkateshwarlu said that devotees proceeding towards Vijayawada were hesitating to cross the road after four-laning of the highway as the width of the road has doubled.
Mr. Venkateshwarlu said that the temple revenue also came down in the recent years since the number of devotees visiting the temple has declined. Endowment Officer at the temple Ambati Nagi Reddy, said that they have received so many complaints from villagers and devotees which they are planning to take up with the District Collector and higher ups in Endowments Department to find a proper solution.
