Yadagirigutta to have temple trust board soon; Assembly passes Bill

HYDERABAD

The Yadagirigutta temple will soon have temple trust board on the lines of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams following passage of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2025, by the Telangana Assembly on Tuesday.

Introducing the Bill, Minister for Endowments K. Surekha said the free bus travel facility for women introduced by the State government had increased the visit of devotees and pilgrims to temples across Telangana, increasing their income too. She stated that the Bill would facilitate constituting trust boards for temples in the State with over ₹100 crore income per annum.

As of now, only Yadagirigutta (₹224 crore) and Vemulawada (₹187 core) temples have such income. Other temples such as Basar (₹64 crore), Bhadrachalam (₹55 crore), Komuravelli (₹45 crore) and Kondagattu (₹26 crore) too have good income. She explained that the Yadagirigutta temple board would have 18 members including the Chairman. The other members include a MLA/MLC, an SC, a BC, a woman, a hereditary trustee and others.

The minister stated that there were 12,434 temples in the State with 156 in 6-A category, 397 in 6-B, 11,780 in 6-C and 101 in 6-D with the last category under management of mutts. Before passage of the Bill, the minister and Congress member K. Rajagopal Reddy complimented former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for reconstructing/developing the Yadagirigutta temple on 1,241 acres of land.

Ms. Surekha explained that the State government had improved several facilities for devotees on the hill temple during the last one year and planned more in the days to come. Members B. Ilaiah, V. Prashanth Reddy, P. Harish Babu, K. Moinuddin, K. Sambasiva Rao, K. Anil Kumar Reddy, T. Harish Rao, V. Srihari and A. Srihari participated in the debate on the Bill.

Published - March 18, 2025 09:24 pm IST