Srisailam temple plans special master plan to create more facilities for devotees

Anantapur: In view of the large-scale arrivals from across the country on a regular basis, the historic Srisailam Temple is contemplating the implementation of a special master plan on lines similar to Tirumala, to ensure more facilities for the devotees.

The government initiative is for the development of the temple by splitting it into several zones, including Mada streets, and road development in the deep forests of Nallamala in order to facilitate clear road access for devotees to reach the temple.

The plans were discussed at a meeting convened by state chief secretary Jawahar Reddy with heads of related departments on Saturday. This raised the hope that necessary developmental activities in and around Srisailam would get governmental clearance soon.

The meeting sought proposals from various quarters in a month’s time and decided to implement development works on that basis, with a long-term plan that would address the requirements of the devotees and the temple for the next 30 years.

As the hill temple is closely connected to the deep Nallamala Forest, the high-level committee that discussed the future plans felt that there was a need to clear the present legal hurdles by offering temple lands to the forest department and, in return, acquiring the forest lands for road development.

Temple EO, Lavanna, said, “The land exchange plan with the forest department with a ratio of 1:2 will be implemented in order to get forest lands for the developmental works relating to the Srisailam temple, as per a mutual understanding. A big toll plaza will be designed at Hatakeswaram in view of the steadily increasing number of devotee arrivals at the temple.”

“As per the directions of the chief secretary, new dormitories, internal roads, more parking places and more greenery through plantations in different locations will be included in the special master plan for early implementation,” the EO said.