Hyderabad: The Hare Krishna Movement (HKM), Hyderabad, an affiliate of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) Bengaluru, will spend '10 crore worth of gold on the under-construction Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Banjara Hills.
The temple had made news in 2012 when the then labour minister Danam Nagender and his followers had locked the temple gate to prevent Krishnashtami celebrations to be held there. Anticipating trouble, HKM officials said they had received police protection at the construction site after directions from the High Court.
Mr Madhu Pandit Dasa, president of Iskcon, Bengaluru, said, “Earlier, politicians of the erstwhile ruling party had tried to encroach on the temple land. Out of a total of 48 acre, 44 acre has been encroached. Colonies have come up on the encroached land. On the remaining four acre, the government has given the green signal to go ahead with the temple construction. In 2014, we did the Bhoomi Puja after the High Court favored us.
“We have decided to turn it into a golden temple by spending Rs 10 crore worth of gold; more than '6 crore worth works have already been completed and the temple will be ready in four – five months.”
Other cultural attractions at the temple will include the themed experience of “Narasimha Leela”, “Narasimha Kala Kshetra” or an open-air theatre, and a “Vedic Samskara” hall.
The HKM, which runs the “Bhojanamitra” free food scheme in government hospitals and “Akshaya Patra” for students in government schools, said they had received the mandatory permission from municipal authorities to take up construction of the temple and cultural centre.
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