Tirumala-Tirupati, the most popular, and wealthiest, temple in India was cut off on Thursday following heavy rains that flooded the main shrine at Tirumala and led to the shutdown of the ghat roads that lead to it.
The new facility was inaugurated by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman B Karunankara Reddy.
Pilgrims belonging to faiths other than Hinduism will have to submit a declaration form from August 13 before entering the Tirumala shrine near Tirupati stating that they have faith in the presiding deity, Lord Venkateswara
Temple sources said this was her second visit to Tirumala. She had earlier visited the temple on January 28, 1999.
Naidu set out on the yatra in a specially built campaign bus from Matammagudi (local temple) in a Dalit colony in Rayalapuram village in his native Chittoor district, after seeking divine blessings of Lord Venkateswara at the famed Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam. With the next Assembly elections barely a year away, Naidu is undertaking the marathon yatra to dethrone the Congress regime led by Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. Naidu's yatra will enter Nalgonda district from Guntur.
The controversy has sparked reactions across states. The famous Mankameshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh has now banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.
Patnaik, 89, passed away at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences in the temple city
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, was caught in a massive flood of unprecedented scale on Thursday, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded even as a heavy downpour under the influence of a depression in Bay of Bengal battered the temple-town Tirupati and many parts of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh.
For the first time in the last three decades, state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation buses on Tuesday did not operate its services on the hill routes leading to the Lord Venkateswara shrine following indefinite strike by transport unions across the state demanding reversal of the Centre's decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
Champions Chennai Super Kings' return to Chennai following a fairytale Indian Premier League triumph received the rapturous welcome it deserved, even as murmurs of scaling down an elaborate reception plan swirled in the wake of the Tuticorin tragedy.
Deputy Chief Minister N China Rajappa and a host of other ministers also took a holy dip on the occasion.
Justice Gogoi's tenure as judge and as CJI was marked by some controversies and personal allegations but that never came in his way of his judicial work that was reflected in the last few days when benches headed by him delivered some path-breaking judgments.
The richest Hindu temple in the world could soon come to the rescue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to recycle tonnes of idle gold and cut economy-hurting imports.
As the number of cases crossed 2,56,000 with more than 7,100 fatalities, according to Union health ministry figures, and the country made a calibrated exit from the lockdown in non-containment zones, shop shutters in many malls went up for the first time since March 25 but the sprawling retail places were eerily empty.
The CJI said that after being a judge for around two decades, he had a bank balance of Rs 6.80 lakh.
Modi, who addressed a public meeting in Hyderabad after laying foundation stone and inaugurating several development projects, also said the lack of cooperation from the state government is leading to delay in the completion of several central projects in Telangana.
A nation that aspires to be a superpower and wants to join the ranks of global leaders in knowledge, science and technology should declare an all out war on ills like superstition and black magic at all levels, says Dinesh C Sharma.
