Govt nods to TAC on temples, yes to Rs 30 cr restoration works

The Chief Minister on Saturday positively responded to the suggestions of the Technical Advisory Committee appointed by the State Government to assess the structural safety and soundness of major temple structures in the State and recommend remedial measures required to strengthen them.

Mr Rosaiah held a meeting in this regard with the members of the Technical Committee and officials of the Endowments department. He has approved in principle, the renovation and reconstruction of 47 temples at a cost of about Rs 30 crore, which include Rajagopuarams. There are 37,000 temples in the State under the administrative control of the Endowments department. There are about 5,000 temples of historic nature constructed more than 100 years ago.

The Technical Advisory Committee has inspected 47 major and important temples on priority basis. Thus the process of identifying old temples and assessing them will be a continuous process. The Chief Minister also approved that the Zonal Committees constituted by the Endowments Department with Deputy Commissioners, Deputy Executive Engineers and Assistant Stapathi will remain a regular feature and will continue inspecting ancient temples and identify any structures that need restoration; the Technical Advisory Committee constituted by the Government will continue to exist and assist the department whenever required.

The Chief Minister also agreed in principle that the restoration and conservation works of these 47 ancient temples inspected by the Technical Advisory Committee to be funded from Common Good Fund (CGF) grants, temples’ own funds or under donor scheme or a combination of any of these three. If necessary, funds will be pooled up as provided under section 72 of the Endowments Act (for the 47 temples – Rs 30 crore is the requirement tentatively estimated); it is also proposed to utilize traditional technologies and conservation principles in restoring these ancient temples as far as possible. It was also decided to strengthen the Engineering Department under the control of Chief Engineer of Endowments.

The Members of technical Advisory Committee are Mr R Kondala Rao, Engineer-in-Chief(Rtd), Panchayat Raj Department, Hyderabad; Mr  S  Narasimha Rao, Professor (Rtd) Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai; Mr  CVR Murthy, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai; Mr  V Murahari Reddy, Engineer-in-Chief, Roads and Buildings, Hyderabad; Mr BSV Koteswar Rao, Chief Engineer (Rtd) Tirumala Tirupathi Devastanam, Mr A Velu, Stapathy (Rtd.) Endowments Department, Hyderabad and Mr R Jagan Mohan, Chief Engineer, Endowments Department, Hyderabad. Except S Narasimha Rao, all members of the technical committee attended the meeting.

The Chief Minister asked the officials and engineers to consult agamasastra pundits also before taking up the reconstruction and renovation of any Gopurams and temple structures. Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy, Principal Secretary, Endowments, Dr K V Ramanachary, Commissioner, Endowments, JSV Prasad and other officials attended the meeting.