New Yadadri road caves in due to heavy rains

HYDERABAD: A newly-laid road to Yadadri temple complex caved in due to heavy rains that lashed the temple town on Wednesday halting the buses travelling to the temple. The rainwater also entered the main temple’s queue lines.

This forced pilgrims on board to step out of the buses stuck in the mud and trudge through slushy roads. Videos showing caved roads, pilgrims walking through muddy roads and water entering the queue line complex went viral on social media platforms with netizens taking a dig at the poor quality of works due to which the road collapsed just after a single downpour.

Senior Congress leader and Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy was quick to react on this issue. He tweeted, “Heavy rains in Yadadri. RTC bus stuck in the mud on the ghat road. The main road to the temple has caved in. Stormwater has entered the main temple’s queue lines.

God’s money gifted to contractors and government officers (sic).”
The renovated Yadadri temple complex was inaugurated by Chief Minister K.  Chandrashekar Rao on March 28 after a five-year-long renovation works undertaken at a cost of over Rs 1,200 crore.

However, Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA) officials said the sudden and heavy rains caused some problems which were resolved soon after. Speaking to media personnel, YTDA vice-chairman G. Kishan Rao said, “Due to heavy rains on Tuesday and Wednesday, earth eroded in some places. There are no major damages at the temple complex. As works were going on and trenches were dug adjacent to roads, some earth eroded,” he said.

Rao said senior technical officers and engineers from the roads and building department had inspected the sites, adding that all precautionary measures were being taken to avoid this situation in the future. Yadadri received the highest 86.8 mm rainfall of the day till 8 am on Wednesday.