Singotam set to turn top tourist spot

Mahbubnagar: Singotam, a historic temple town about 100 kilometres away from district headquarters near Kollapur mandal in Mahbubnagar is set to become a popular tourist and pilgrims spot in the district.

Singotam also called as Singapatnam is famous for the historic Sri Laxmi Narasimhaswamy temple, constructed 400 years back by the Jetaprolu Samsthana Kings of Surabhi dynasty. The temple is built on the bank of Singasamudram, a gigantic water reservoir spread across more than 10 kilometres area.

Thanks to the latest irrigation projects by the State government, recently, the Kalwakurthy lift irrigation project has helped the reservoir to be filled up to its brim and supplying drinking water to about more than a 100 small and big villages surrounding it. The tank is supplying irrigation water to more than 5,000 acres of land below it.

Besides the reservoir, there is a small hilllock, popularly known as Ratnagiri, upon which the temple of Sri Ratna Laxmi temple is located. Every year about 30,000 to 50,000 pilgrims visit to this temple from various parts of south India such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra.

“Sri Ratna Laxmi temple was constructed in the year 1935 by the then, Jetaprolu Samsthaana queen named Surabhi Venkata Ratnamambha. Recently, the State government has recognised its importance and has announced sanctioning of Rs 8-12 crore for the development of amenities like roads, guest houses, drinking water and other facilities for the pilgrims and tourists.

If once the road is developed properly, there will be a continuous flow of tourists, which will further help the development of this region,” says Voruganti Shashidhara Sharma, a temple priest at Singotam. The Ratnagir hilllock is about 100 meters above the ground level; it gives a picturesque view of the entire temple surrounding and the reservoir. Besides the reservoir there is also a tall hill popularly called as ‘Yettam Gattu’.

The Madana Gopala swamy temple at Jetaprolu, Sita Rama Laxmana Temple in Kollapur, Sri Laxmi Narasihma swamy and Sri Ratna Laxmi Devi Temple at Singotam are all build by the Jetaprolu Samsthaana Kings of Surabhi dynasty.

To begin with Jetaprolu dynasty started with Datta Putra, followed by King Singama Naidu, Bhoopala Naidu and Rani Ratnamaambha. At present, all the temples in and around Kollapur and Jetaprolu are managed and maintained by Surabi Venakata Balaaditya Laxmana Rao, who is founder trust chairman of all the group temples constructed by the then rulers.

Recently the Telangana government has taken initiative to develop the tourists’ spots and temples in Kollapur and has released Rs 23 crore for building cottages for the tourists, widening of roads, and launched a ferry service for the tourists at Somasila in Kollapur mandal.