Medak: Harish Rao, others set Bhavani Jathara rolling

Medak: On the occasion of Maha Shivarathri, Finance Minister T Harish Rao presented silk clothes to presiding deities of Edupayala Vana Durga Bhavani Temple on Friday. He along with Medak MP Prabhakar Reddy, Medak MLA Padma Devender Reddy, Narsapur MLA Madhan Reddy, State Beverages Corporation Chairman Devi Prasad and District Collector Dharma Reddy inaugurated Edupayala Vana Durga Bhavani Jathara (fair). He performed special puja on the occasion. He said he prayed for the wellbeing of people. He said the temple is being developed gradually since inception of Telangana state.

"Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is striving for the holistic development of temples. He's strengthening endowment department. Devotees in large numbers throng this temple not only on festival days but also on weekends. Master plan has been prepared to make the place tourist attraction. Forest land around the temple will be taken over by the endowments department and the same amount of land would be given to forest department. Once the land acquisition is done, proposals for development activities will be called for.

Cottages, shopping complexes, function halls, meditation center, toilets will be constructed, and other basic amenities will be provided. More funds will be allocated towards the development of the temple in the future. Water from Kaleshwaram reservoir will be supplied to entire erstwhile Medak district. The government has sanctioned Rs100 crore towards increasing the height of Ghanapuram project," he added.

He wished farmers in the area would be able to raise two crops in a year with Kaleshwaram water irrespective of adequate rains.

Additional District Collector Nagesh, ZP Chairperson Lavanya, MPs Chandana (Papannapet), Manjula (Kolcharam), Muncipal Commissioners Chandrapal (Medak), Murali Yadav (Narsapur), Endowments Department Assistant Commissioner Hemanth Kumar, EO Srinivas, renovation committee members Bala Goud, Durgaiah, Veerasham, Sai Reddy, Rytu Coordination committee convener Srinivas Reddy, sarpanch Sanjeeva Reddy, MPTC Lakshmi, vice MPP Vishnuvardhan Reddy and others were present.