Minister Anam inspects fire accident site at Srikalahasti temple

Tirupati: Followingthe fire accident at Srikalahasti Temple, Endowments Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy inspected the affected area on Friday and reviewed damage, safety measures and steps to prevent similar incidents.

The Minister directed officials to take all necessary precautions to ensure that such incidents do not recur. He said a decision on relocating Prasadam Potu would be taken after consulting Agama Shastra experts. Stating that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and he were deeply concerned after seeing reports about fire accident, he said officials were immediately alerted and asked to collect details about the incident.

Anam said it was a matter of relief that no devotees or temple staff were injured and no lives were lost in the accident. He said experts from Endowments department would visit the historic temple to examine the existing Prasadam Potu. Based on their recommendations and in accordance with Agama Shastra rules, a decision would be taken on where to set up the kitchen for preparing offerings to the presiding deities and where to prepare prasadam for distribution to devotees.

The Minister also said that although Chief Minister Naidu had earlier directed the government to offer silk robes to various temples on the occasions of Karthika Masam and Navaratri, the government did not make any such offerings in view of the election Model Code of Conduct.

He said the Chief Minister was giving special attention to the administration and development of major temples across the state. The government’s objective was to resolve problems in temples promptly and provide better facilities to devotees. Earlier, the Minister visited Sri Vayulingeswara Swamy and Goddess Sri Gnanaprasunamba at Srikalahasti Temple and performed special prayers.

Temple Chairman Kotte Sai Prasad, BJP senior leader Kola Anand and others were present during the Minister’s visit.

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Pradeep Vennelakanti

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