TD leaders promised to contribute towards the project but did not so far.

Kurnool: With the exit polls and other surveys suggesting a victory for the YSR Congress in AP, transgenders have abandoned the project of building a temple for AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Nandyal. Now, they are contemplating to convert the site allotted by the government in survey number 2339/A at Transgender Colony into a community hall.

Coming down heavily on the TD leaders who failed to contribute resources to the temple project, P. Vijaya Kumar, president of Samatha Hijras Hakkula Aikya Porata Vedika, said that the ruling party failed to help them in building a temple citing “frivolous” reasons.

“We abandoned the temple project but will build a community hall in over 40 cents of land (2,000 square yards) at Transgender Colony near Abandam Thanda in Nandyal,” Kumar said.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of AP, foundation stone was laid in April 2018 for the temple dedicated to AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Nandyal.

The Samantha Hijras Hakkula Aikya Porata Vedika in Nandyal town took up the task of building a temple dedicated to N. Chandrababu Naidu and thought of installing a silver statue. The project cost was pegged at Rs 30 lakh.

P. Vijaya Kumar said that the Kurnool Rajya Sabha MP assured that he would sanction the Rs 30 lakh from MPLADS and we are still considering it. “Based on the poor response to the temple project to Naidu, we have decided to convert it into a community hall,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the recently concluded elections, though the district has more than 25,000 Gay, LGBT and Hijras population, only 533 members were registered as transgender voters, of whom, only 91 came to cast their vote. Vijaya Kumar said that although the district ranks No. 1 in transgender population, government officials were lax in granting transgender certificates.

The Kurnool General Hospital had constituted a board to examine the status of a person and issue a certificate based on biological, physiological, behavioural and general conduct of the applicant seeking to be a transgender. Vijaya Kumar alleged that the medical board plays “fraud” on the community and were issuing certificates on considerations than on merit.

When contacted, the superintendent of Kurnool Government General Hospital said that a medical board comprising a urologist, endocrinologist, and a psychiatrist was formed to assess the suitability of candidates to be declared as transgenders.