People trying to push a bus stuck on the damaged Yadadri road following heavy rains in Nalgonda district on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: PTI
‘World-class spiritual destination’, ‘Telangana’s Tirumala’, ‘dream project of CM KCR’ were some of the epithets used to describe Yadadri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, but all that fell flat following a two-hour sudden and heavy downpour last week.
The 83.5 mm rainfall recorded in Yadagirigutta on Wednesday, as per official figures, exposed the fragile conditions at the temple, the infrastructure built around it, and to a greater extent, triggered anger of locals and devotees alike.
Temple officials said, “Only temporary structures, such as pandals, fell out of place due to the heavy rain combined with gusty winds. The ghat section is being examined and an explanation from the R&B Department has been sought.”
But for anyone, who caught a real glimpse of the caved-in, less-than-a-year-old ghat road that was damaged in the brief downpour, the hype around the temple,and multiple visits by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to the site, seemed to fizzle out.
On Wednesday, the ghat sections leading to the hillock, the premises of the main temple and the devotee queue complex were inundated, and caving-in of the newly-laid ghat road raised serious concerns about the quality of executed works.
According to Member of Parliament from Bhongir constituency Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who visited the temple, “The whole temple would be damaged if it rained like in Hyderabad in the year 2020.” He said the government must constitute a committee and inquire into work irregularities.
The Yadadri Temple, ever since the inauguration on March 28, was caught in disturbances.
About 300 families of auto-rickshaw drivers sat in protest and marched the temple town for more than a month, and also were detained by police, while demanding about their livelihood concerns.
But it was the temple order that directed parking fee at ₹500 per vehicle for the first hour and ₹ 100 per each subsequent hour on the hillock that evoked a public backlash. The related order had stated that parking space constraint on the hillock is the concern and the fee was to act as a deterrent.
Temple in-charge executive officer Ramakrishna Rao, speaking to media persons, said “the parking amount was so fixed to encourage use of TSRTC or public transport in the temple town.”
Following the Wednesday rain fury at the temple, Commissioner (Endowments) V. Anil Kumar along with YTDA vice chairman Kishan Rao inspected the damage. The team discussed a range of issues covering work quality, devotee amenities and livelihoods of auto-rickshaw drivers, and it was first decided to waive off the parking fee of ₹100 per hour for the subsequent hours, and the parking fee for four-wheelers was revised and fixed at ₹500 per visit.
