Master Plan on the anvil for development of Inavolu temple

The tiny village comes to life with hundreds of thousands of devotees raising temporary tents all around the temple to camp for a day or two before offering their prayers since Sankranti festival every year.

Hanamkonda: The State government is likely to prepare a ‘master plan’ to get permanent facilities at the historic Inavolu Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in the district soon, said Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao. He also said that they were contemplating constructing a ‘Haritha Hotel’ by the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) near the temple.

Speaking to ‘Telangana Today’, Rao said that he would bring the proposal to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and ensure authorities to prepare a master plan for the development of the Inavolu as the number of the pilgrims visiting the temple was increasing year by year, and provide facilities that will be useful for the future generations rather than temporary works.

On the other hand, he said that facilities would be provided for the devotees during the jatara which would commence from January 13, 2023 with Rs 2 crore. The tiny village comes to life with hundreds of thousands of devotees raising temporary tents all around the temple to camp for a day or two before offering their prayers since Sankranti festival every year.

This Kakatiyan era temple was said to have been built by Sri Ayyanna Deva, a minister of the Kakatiya dynasty, during the 11 th century AD. The presiding deity Lord Mallikarjuna is worshiped here as Mylarudeva along with consorts Balija Medalamma and Golla Kethamma. Devotees from across the State and neighbouring States come to the temple.

A ‘Keerthi Thoranam’ was erected on the northern side as part of the restoration. Earlier, the temple had only two pillars on the east and south entrances. On the north side, the keerthi thoranam was not installed but the rock pillars were put there. However, the third Thoranam was installed and inaugurated in 2018.

The Minister said that he had held a review meeting with the officials and people’s representatives on the temple premises a couple of days ago to execute the works for the jatara.

“I have asked the District Collector and other authorities to take up the work immediately as the jatara is scheduled to begin on January 13,” he said, adding that the focus would be on drinking water and sanitation besides repairing the roads near the temple. The temple Executive Officer (EO) was asked to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the priest’s rest house and a permanent building for Kalyanakatta (tonsure facility). Dayakar Rao said that he had directed the revenue authorities to identify a suitable site for the construction of the Haritha Hotel at the earliest.