Bhakta Tukaram Ramalayam : The temple gets submerged in sewage water

Visakhapatnam: It has become tough for devotees to pray even for a few minutes peacefully at Sri Bhakta Tukaram Ramalayam as it is hard to predict when the sewage water would trickle down and wash the feet of the devotees in the temple.

Spread over an acre, the three-decade-old temple at Visalakshinagar suffers from this grave problem for quite a long time as it is in a low-lying area. Here, the devotees' feet get drenched in slush as drain water flows from different directions, causing great inconvenience to them.

Due to the absence of a proper drainage system, the temple that has a unique idol of Panchamukha Shiva along with Subrahmanya Swamy, Dakshinamurthy, Dattatreya, Hanuman, among others, get submerged quite often. The situation becomes worse during the monsoon season. "Since the temple is in a low-lying area, we face serious inundation problem. When it rains heavily, the temple premises, including the kalyana mandapam, remains submerged for three-four days," rues Botcha Krishna Rao, temple secretary.

The temple serves as a spiritual hub not only for the people located in Visalakshinagar but also for those residing in the neighbouring areas. Earlier, the rainwater used to get flushed out through the drainage system.

"With the development of new colonies, the existing drains remained closed giving way to neighbourhoods," explains B Someswara Rao, joint secretary of the temple committee.

Listing their woes, the temple committee members have submitted a representation to Municipal Commissioner G Lakshmisha. Even earlier, they have made representations to the authorities concerned. However, no action was initiated in this direction so far. But after the recent meeting with the Municipal Commissioner, the committee members were assured that their problem would be addressed soon.

By making the existing drainage system functional, broadening it further and laying new system at a few stretches, the temple committee members opine that their problem would be resolved permanently.