LG Sinha to inaugurate Lord Venkateswara’s temple in Jammu today

J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will dedicate Lord Venkateswara’s temple to the people at Majeen on the outskirts of Jammu city on Thursday

JAMMU Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha will dedicate Lord Venkateswara’s temple to the people at Majeen on the outskirts of Jammu city on Thursday morning.

A near-replica of Tirupati Balaji temple at Tirumala in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh, the temple has been constructed by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. (PTI Photo)

A near-replica of Tirupati Balaji temple at Tirumala in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh, the temple has been constructed by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) on 62 acres of land at a cost of ₹35-crore. It is the only temple of Lord Venkateswara in north India and would give an impetus to pilgrimage tourism in the region.

TTD chairman and former MP, YV Subba Reddy had told Hindustan Times that the temple at Jammu was not exactly replica of the original temple but the format and design remained the same. TTD chose Jammu for the Lord Venkateswara temple because it wanted to have one in the foothills of Himalayas. “In north India we have historic temples like Rishikesh, Kurukshetra and this part of J&K is a holy place because Himalayas are situated here. Earlier, we thought to build a temple but can’t get the land because of some legal issues. However, post- revocation of Article 370 we requested the government of J&K and they allotted us the land paving way for the construction of the temple,” said the TTD chairman. TTD had sanctioned ₹35-crore for the project; ₹30-crore alone for the temple alone besides ₹5-crore for additional facilities like a dispensary, a ‘Ved Pathshalla’ and a ‘Kalyan Mandapam’. The sanctum sanctorum will have an aesthetically carved 6 feet 4 inches high statue of Lord Venkateswara Swamy from black granite stone duly adorned by gold and diamond jewelry. TTD presently have temples in Bengaluru, Kanyakumari, Chennai, Amravati, Vishakapatnam and Bhuveshawara. It may be stated here that black granite stone were brought from Guntur to make the temple here in Majeen. The temple is the first of its kind in northern India because of its Dravidian style with Chola’s architecture.