Venkateshwara temple to boost religious tourism in Hry: Khattar
KURUKSHETRA: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said that the setting up of Venkateshwara Tirupati Balaji temple, near Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra will give a boost to religious tourism in the state.
Khattar, who was speaking to the media, after the opening ceremony of the temple said that it had been constructed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) over an area of 5.52 acres on the land provided by the Kurukshetra Development Board on lease and the total expenditure at the temple will be around ₹34 crore and Rs 18 crore have already been spent. The foundation stone of the temple was laid by former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in August 2012.
The TTD, which has set up the temple is an independent trust which manages the richest temple in India and the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) had allotted about 5.5 acres of land near the Brahm Sarovar to TTD in January 2012. TTD officials said that construction had been going on for the past five years and thousands of contractual labourers were working for the construction of temple and 1,500 tonnes of graphite was brought from Tamil Nadu for the construction of this temple.
Accompanied by several BJP leaders and officials of district administration, the chief minister said , “The temple will help the people of northern states to have a glimpse of Venkateshwara Tirupati Balaji in Kurukshetra and they need not to visit Tirupati temple in AP.” About 50 priests from Andhra temple were camping in Kurukshetra for the past two-three days to perform rituals at the temple.