Kamakshi temple, Mantapams washed away in Somasila

Nellore: Now, Lord Someswara at Somasila village, where the huge reservoir is located, lost his better half Goddess Kamakshi during the recent outflows from the waterbody. Sri Kamaskhi temple was completely wrecked due to the floods and Navagraha Mandapam and Kalyana Mandapam were also vanished as the dam officials released more than 5 lakh cusecs of water for managing the flood situation.

The Someswara temple is located close to Somasila Dam in the district which is famous for the presiding deity Lord Shiva and Maa Kamakshi. The temple was built during the seventh century and Mahasivaratri and Karthika Pournami were celebrated with religious fervour as it is proximity to River Penna.

The temple was said to have been moved from the ancient village Somasila to the upper land to prevent it from possibilities of submergence in case of huge floodwater. The place is used by many tourists from various parts of Nellore, Kadapa, Chittoor, and other parts of Tamil Nadu for offering prayers during the month Karthik masam and for sightseeing. Even devotees from Karnataka and Maharashtra states also visit this place. The government constructed the dam across the river Penna with an area of 52,456 acres with a capacity of 78 tmc feet.

The reservoir gets water from upper catchment areas of Rayalaseema region by gravity. It is the largest storage reservoir in the Penna basin and in a normal year, can store all the inflows from its catchment area. Water from the reservoir is also being supplied to the nearby Kandaleru reservoir which is having a capacity of 68 tmc feet by gravity.

This year, Telugu Ganga Project officials stored more than 70 tmc feet water and the unpredicted water inflows from the upper catchment area made the officials to release more than 5 lakh cusecs of water in a second consecutive year which washed away Kamakshmi Amma temple along with Navagraha and Kalyana Mandapams giving a shock to the devotees.

"It is unfortunate that losing Kamaskhi amma temple during the floods and never thought this kind of situation would arise where Lord Shiva temple without Kamakshi amma. I request the engineering wing of endowments department to prepare proposals and focus on reconstruction of temple as early as possible," said Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, former Minister and legislator of Venkatagiri constituency.