KARIMNAGAR: Prominent temples of the district are facing acute shortage of drinking water as their borewells have dried up following depletion of groundwater table.
Devotees are witnessing hardships when visiting these shrines. They are forced to buy drinking water at shops located around the pilgrim centres for quenching their thirst.
The ancient Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Devasthanam (SRRD) of Vemulada had to shell out about '20 lakh for purchasing water from private agencies during March and April, owing to insufficient supply of water from the town’s civic body.
In 2015, it has incurred expenditure of Rs 16 lakh on water, indicating that water crisis is causing a financial burden on the temple.
This historic shrine has 21 borewells. Majority of them do not have water due to declining groundwater table. For the past few days, the southern Kasi is registering a heavy rush of pilgrims due to summer vacations. It is providing purified water to its devotees by spending Rs 20,000 per day. The situation is likely to stay unchanged until the arrival of monsoon.
Due to dried up borewells, the historic Sri Laxminarayana Swamy Devasthanam in Dharmapuri has started relying on an open well located in Timammapur village, on the outskirts of the temple town.
This temple paid Rs 2 lakh towards purchasing water at the time of conducting celestial wedding of Lord Laxminarasimha Swamy held recently. Ironically, this prominent abode of Lord Laxminarasimha Swamy is located on the shores of Godavari.
Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple in Kondagattu also experienced drinking water crisis at the time of the recent Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. Its management arranged water by paying Rs 3 lakh. However, it could overcome the challenge as donors have sponsored two-bore wells and a well was deepened a few days ago.
