Telangana Assembly passes Bill to form Yadagirigutta Trust Board

Endowments minister Konda Surekha said that temples gaining revenues more than Rs 100 crore per year can now constitute their own trust boards.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government, on Tuesday, March 18, passed the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (Amendments) Bill during the special Assembly session.

Introducing the Bill in the Assembly, state endowments minister Konda Surekha said that it proposes to establish the Yadagirigutta Devasthanams Board in Telangana on the lines of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board in Andhra Pradesh, following reports that the temple’s annual revenue was close to Rs 2224 crore.

“The trust’s executive board of Yadagirigutta temple would have 18 members including a member from Scheduled Class (SC) and Backward Class (BC) communities as well as a woman representative along with a MLA or MLC. It will function similarly to the TTD board, managing and running educational institutions, vedic schools, and gaushalas,” she said.

The bill proposes Temple City of the 1,241 acres of Yadagirigutta temple land covering three municipalities, and six villages under three gram panchayats. “Activities like begging, grazing of livestock, consumption of drugs, gambling, and running businesses without licenses will be prohibited in the Temple City,” she said.

Minister Konda Surekha said that the state government will establish a Hindu Dharmika Prachara Parishad with an annual budget of Rs 1 crore for dharmic activities.

She informed the Assembly that Telangana has currently 12,434 temples under the endowments out of which 156 fall under Section 6 (a), 377 under Section 6 (b), 11,780 under Section 6 (c), and 101 were Mutts falling under Section 6 (d).

Munugode Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy proposed naming the board ‘Yadagiri Gutta Devasthanams’ (YGD) Board. He urged the state government to compensate those who gave up their lands for the temple’s development, as well as those who lost their shops and livelihoods due to the reconstruction efforts.

Additionally, he suggested building a dedicated metro line from Hyderabad to Yadagirigutta to enable swift travel for one lakh devotees in the near future.

Alair Congress MLA Beerla Ilaiah criticised the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government for failing to establish any facilities at the Yadagirigutta temple during its tenure.

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BRS defends Yadagirigutta development

BRS MLA Vemula Prashanth Reddy shot back at the allegations stating K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), during his term as chief minister, ensured the temple was reconstructed with the finest details. “Let me remind the Assembly that when KCR was the chief minister, he instructed the sanctum sanctorum, sapthatala gopuram and bangaru thapidam was built with 100 percent ‘Krishnasila‘ stone.’ In fact, at one point, 400 sculptors were engaged in carving the gopuram which your government inaugurated,” he said, adding, that 60 kg of gold was generously denoted for the gopuram.

“Additionally, the BRS government ensured that the pushkarini located in Yadagirigutta would enable 8,000 devotees to take a bath at any given point in time. We installed a water treatment plant, which can treat the water after 50,000 devotees have bathed,” he said.

Senior BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao stressed the need for a government medical college in Yadagirigutta in cases of emergencies. “As there is AIIMS established in Bibi Nagar, establishing a government medical college can be useful,” he opined.

Harish Rao urged the state government to form a trust board for Vemulawada temple after its revenues crossed Rs 180 crore this year. “If you review how much revenues were gained before and after the reconstruction of Yadagirigutta temple, one would understand the work done by the BRS government. In the entire country, nobody has used the public funds for the development of temples, except KCR,” Harish Rao said.

Apart from the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (Amendments) Bill, other bills, including the Telangana Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2025; Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2025; and Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2025 were also introduced in the Assembly.