Falling boulders: Rs 3.4 crore earmarked for safety of devotees at Durga temple in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: The Durga temple trust board has taken a giant step towards safety of the devotees by earmarking Rs 3.4 crore for works preventing the boulders from falling on the ghat road.

Disclosing the details here on Monday, the trust board chairman Pyla Sominaidu said that the devotees visiting the temple for Dasara celebrations will be free from hazard or danger of rolling rocks.

He said an expert committee made a suggestion to check the problem of falling boulders. As part of it, mesh will be arranged along the hillock and drain will be built for the flow of rainwater.

Sominaidu chaired the trust board meeting held at Mahamandapam. Due to Covid, the board did not meet last month. The board members along with the temple officials discussed various subjects related to the development works, safety of devotees on the ghat road, preventing rocks from falling on the ghat road, resuming Annadanam and other subjects.

Later, briefing the media, the board chairman Sominaidu said tenders were finalized for the works of Rs3.4 crore. He said development of infrastructure facilities for the convenience of devotees is the top priority and hoped the temple administration would complete all the development works by the next year.

He said development works will be executed at the cost of Rs70 crore sanctioned by the State government along with the matching grants. He said Nitya Annadanam programme, closed due to second wave of Covid, will resume next month. The ongoing works will be expedited with the curfew relaxation.

The temple administration will give wide publicity on the available facilities in CV Reddy Charities and planning to shift the Gosala from the existing place to other location.

Discussions are underway with the organisers of Gosala, he added. Temple executive officer D Bramaramba, board members and officials attended the meeting.