Srikalahasti: : According to a survey, 72.7% devotees who have visited the famous Srikalahastheeswara Swamy Devasthanam in Srikalahati town of Tirupati district have expressed satisfaction over their pilgrimage.  The survey was undertaken for all the major endowments temples barring Tirumala by the State government. Srikalahasti shrine topped the list of all temples in its category, closely followed by Dwaraka Tirumala (71.5%), Srisailam (70.4%), Kanipakam (70%) and Simhachalam (68.8%).

The parameters looked in the survey include various parameters including queue management, staff response, sanitation and upkeep etc, according to a survey.Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu congratulated the Srikalahasti MLA Bojjala Venkata Sudheer Reddy, who is also the son of his erstwhile close associate and former cabinet colleague Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy. “During the YSRCP regime, the visitor footfall was paltry, ‘Prasadam’ distribution was hardly sufficient, crowd management was poor and the quality of service dropped. We witnessed a significant turnaround after the formation of the TDP-led NDA alliance regime in the State,” Mr. Sudheer Reddy said.

Temple authorities confirmed that the ‘Hundi’ income had also remained stagnant in the past, indicating the scope for misappropriation or pilferage. “However, the income from Hundi has tripled now,” the MLA said. Meanwhile, the MLA participated in the local folk festival ‘Yedu Gangamma Jatara’ and offered ‘Saarey’, a collection of sacred gifts on behalf of the government, to the temple. Accompanied by his spouse, the legislator carried the sacred offering on his head and formally handed over the same to the temple priests.