Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath on Thursday appealed to the Central government to give Rs 100 crore to Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam in Vijayawada. He met Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi and gave a representation.

The MP said that Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada is the biggest temple in the state after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. He said over 25,000 devotees visit the temple every day and over 50,000 devotees visit on weekends.

The inflow of devotees would be more for Dasara, and other festivals, he said. The temple also conducts Bhavani Deeksha Viramana, over 2.50 lakh devotees visit the temple, he said. He wanted the Union Minister to give funds to the temple for further development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme.

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He told the minister that the temple executive officer had already sent proposals to the Ministry for the development of the temple. He wanted the minister to look into the report and sanction the funds at the earliest. He said that the temple requires additional facilities atop the hill and at the feet of the hill as the number of devotees visiting the temple is increasing year after year.

The endowments department had proposed multilevel structures on the hill to save space, the MP said. He told the Union Minister that the funds are necessary to develop the temple and improve the facilities to the devotees.

He said that devotees from other states also visit the temple as it is considered auspicious. It stands next to Kali temple in Kolkata and Meenakshi temple in Madurai. He wanted the minister to consider the request by the Andhra Pradesh state government’s endowment departments request and release the funds at the earliest.