Mancherial: Work on ghat road leading to Gudem temple drags on

Sri Satyanarayana Swamy Devasthanam is a major pilgrim centre of the district and is regarded as Annavaram of Telangana

Mancherial: Works on a ghat road and side bund leading to the ancient Sri Satyanarayana Swamy temple located on a hillock near Gudem village in Dandepalli mandal are in a limbo, with the inordinate delay causing inconvenience to devotees visiting the shrine.

Sri Satyanarayana Swamy Devasthanam is a major pilgrim centre of the district and is regarded as Annavaram of Telangana. It was constructed by locals in 1964. It is thronged by thousands of devotees not only from the district, but from several parts of Telangana on the auspicious Karthika Pournami festival. The annual celestial wedding of deities is ceremoniously performed in the month of Magha of Hindu calendar year.

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In order to allow vehicles of devotees to reach atop of the hillock, a 12 feet wide road and an 800-metre high side bund were sanctioned in 2015 at an estimated cost of Rs 3.10 crore.

The cost of the works escalated twice with prices of raw material going up. Funds to the tune of Rs 5 crore were released in 2017, while Rs.3 crore was sanctioned in 2021.

Despite the enhancement of the cost and extension of the deadline, the road facility still remains on paper.

When contacted, in-charge executive officer of the temple Sankatal Srinivas told ‘Telangana Today that the works were stalled due to technical problems.

“The design of the road has been altered. The new design needs to be approved by higher officials. However, steps are being taken to resume the works and throw the facility open to the public at the earliest,” Srinivas said.