Devotees urge govt to erect new ghat road in Kondagattu

WARANGAL: Devotees of Lord Hanuman have urged the state government to provide funds for the construction of the new ghat road and for undertaking other renovation works that could together cost Rs 100 crores.

This would ensure the safety of the devotees who throng the famous Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple in thousands every year at Kondagattu in Maliala mandal of Jagtial district.

The devotees visiting the temple from distant places in their private and hired vehicles are afraid of traveling through the old ghat road as it is dangerously steep, in view of the past fatal accidents.

The Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple situated is among the famous temples in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. Several thousands of people from neighbouring states too visit the shrine every year for darshan of Lord Hanuman.

Two festivals -- the Chinna Hanuman Jayanti and the Pedda Hanuman Jayanti -- are celebrated on a grand scale every year. Thousands of hanuman devotees don malas, take vruth and visit the temple during the two festival seasons.

In 2018, a major road accident took place in Kondagattu. An RTC bus on the old ghat road fell into the valley, killing 65 passengers. The accident created a sensation and caused panic among the devotees of Lord Hanuman. The state government closed the ghat road with immediate effect.

However, after four years, instead of taking up the construction of the new ghat road, the government re-opened the old road by erecting thick side-walls at five locations at an investment of Rs 40 lakh. Permission was given to light motor vehicles, restricting the plying of  big and heavy vehicles.

With no permission granted to heavy vehicles on the ghat road, the devotees coming from distant places along with their family members in groups, by hiring heavy vehicles, reach the temple through Dongalamarri via the JNTU engineering college route covering an additional eight km distance.

Earlier, the devotees used to take only 15 minutes to reach the temple through the old ghat road, just two km away.

Congress party incharge for Choppadandi assembly segment, Medipally Satyam told Deccan Chronicle that the announcement about a sanction of Rs 100 crore should not be confined to papers, like what was earlier made by chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao in relation to Vemulawada and Dharmapuri temples in the erstwhile Karimnagar district.

“This should not be an election stunt to attract the youth. The government must take up the renovation works of the Kondagattu temple on a war footing by establishing a Kondagattu Temple Development Authority (KTDA) as in the case of the Yadadri temple before the elections, along with construction of the new ghat road, he proposed.