Contractors fleece Simhachalam devotees

Visakhapatnam: Contractors who have a lease agreement with the Simhachalam Temple Devasthanam are fleecing devotees, charging more than what has been agreed upon.

Thousands of devotees hailing from the neighbouring State of Odisha, and districts like Srikakulam, Vizianagaram within the State visit the temple every day and the crowd swells on auspicious days. People start paying at the toll gate, footwear stands to receiving prasadam.

A common man has to spend a minimum of Rs 500 to complete his darshan of the deity in spite of providing for free darshans. A coconut which costs Rs 10 in the market near temple is priced at Rs 30 in the temple premises. Complaints were lodged with the administration but the contractors continue to exploit the people.

Temple sources said the contractors pay hefty amounts of bribe to the executive office to get the lease for a reasonable price and hike the charges other than what has been signed in the agreement.

The sources said the lease contract for coconut stall was Rs 35 lakhs in the last year and for the 2016-2017, lease amount has been hiked to Rs 50 lakhs. The hike of Rs 15 lakh in the auction indicate that the contractor hiked the coconut price abnormally.

Similarly, the lease auction on foot wear stand went for Rs 27 lakh last year. The contractor has to charge Rs 2 per pair as per the agreement but he collects Rs 5 per pair.

This year the stand was auctioned for Rs 36 lakh which will come into effect from August this year.``I have been visiting this temple for many years but this kind of fleecing began very recently,’’ said K Suryanarayana, a retired teacher of Gopalapatnam Executive officer K Ramachandra Mohan was not available for comment.

By Jatlee Dontala