Korukonda shrine craves for development

Rajamahendravaram: In all popular temples, the darshan of the main deities will be provided both in morning and evening from 6 am to 12 noon and from 5 pm to 9 pm and in the temples in Tirupati, Tirumala, Tiruchanoor, Kanipakam, Annavaram, Vijayawada and Simhachalam, the darshan will be made available from morning to evening up to Ekantha Seva without any interruption.

But, in the pilgrim centre Korukonda, the abode of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy in East Godavari district, the darshan is made available from 9 am to 12 noon only in the name of Ekarchana and there is no darshan for devotees in evening. The temple priests should climb 615 steep to go to the temple with great difficulty and the devotees are also facing problems to climb hill for darshan of the Lord.

Though the temple was located at a distance of 20 km from Rajamahendravaram on the way to Bhadrachalam, the temple was not developed up to the expectations of pilgrims. The temple was in existence from Tretayuga and the deity of Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy was a Swayambhu along with Lakshmi Devi with a height of nine inches in a two feet height of mandir and the devotees should sit and see the God.

Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Temple Trust Board of Annavaram adopted the temple five years ago and maintaining it properly and the celestial rituals are being performed as per schedule. But there are some problems to be resolved by the Trust Board.

The main problems are-- half day darshan timings of the main deity, lack of shelter all along the 615 steps, lack of proper railings and lighting, no protection from monkeys and the steep steps are not suitable for climbing.

There is a need to appoint new temple priests for uninterrupted darshan. Many devotees are coming from far off places across the state and other parts of the country are returning without having darshan due to limited timings.

A devotee MRK Rao from Guntur demanded the Endowments Department to provide continuous darshan from morning to evening by appointing additional priests for the convenience of pilgrims coming from distant places and underlined the need to combat monkey menace. He added that he came two months ago and returned without having the darshan of the Lord.

H Sunitha, a housewife from Visakhapatnam, was unhappy over the condition of steps saying that women, particularly the elderly people and children are facing problems to climb the steps up to the shrine and demanded the department to construct the steps to suit for walking. Lord Sriramachandra Murthi and Pandavas also performed pujas to Lord Lakshmi Nrusima Swamy, according to sources.

An officer of Annavaram temple said proposals were sent to government about to change in the darshan timings of Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy. Plans are afoot to develop the temple in all fronts and provide facilities to devotees and to provide a ropeway to the top of hill shrine.