Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday instructed the officials of the Endowments Department to prepare a comprehensive master plan for the development of Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy Devasthanam in Srisailam as a Divya Kshetra. The Chief Minister held a review meeting on the development plans of the Srisailam temple at his camp office. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, Endowments Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and senior officials of the Endowments and Forest Departments were present at the meeting. 

The CM discussed the comprehensive development of Srisailam Temple, which is a divine shrine with both Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peethams. He suggested that action should be taken to develop Srisailam Kshetra on the lines of Tirumala. He said that a large number of devotees from different states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and other states are coming to the shrine and there is a need to provide facilities to them to cater to the rush. 

It has been decided to request the Union Ministry of Forests to allot 2,000 hectares of forest land to the endowments department for the development of the temple. It was also decided to discuss the development of the temple with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Srisailam on May 16. The Chief Minister also proposed that the National Highways near Dornala, Sundipenta, Eegalapenta and other places should be connected to the temple. 

Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan said that in view of the number of devotees increasing every year and there is a need for immediate steps for the overall development of the temple and also to expand and improve the existing facilities. The Deputy CM proposed to develop Srisailam Kshetra after studying the facilities provided to devotees in temples like Sabarimala in the forest area.

The Chief Minister made it clear that along with the development of the temple, steps should be taken to protect the environment at an equal level. He instructed the forest department officials to take steps to increase the number of tigers in Srisailam Tiger Reserve and prepare an action plan for this.