Kakinada: Women stage dharna opposing takeover of Vaaraahi temple
Kakinada, Sept 21 (TNT): A large number of women devotees from Kakinada city, rural and Pedapudi mandals staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate here on Monday, opposing the Endowments Department’s takeover of the management of Sri Kasi Vaaraahi Amma temple at Koripella village in Karapa mandal.
The protesters raised slogans against Endowments Department officials, alleging that action was taken based on a complaint lodged by a person from another religion.
The women said the temple was constructed by Chikkala Veera Venkata Satyanarayana, popularly known as Dorababu, on his own site with his own funds and that he had been managing the temple’s rituals and annual festivities for the past 26 years.
They said Dorababu had also constructed and maintained several other temples in his village and had been organising Anna Samaradhana and distributing sarees, pasupu and kumkum to women devotees during the festivities.
The protesters demanded that management of the Sri Vaaraahi Amma temple be restored to Dorababu after an impartial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the complaint and the persons behind it.
When the protesters attempted to travel by bus to Pithapuram to meet Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and submit a representation, police stopped them and took them to a police station as the District Collector was not available at the Collectorate.
The women objected to the police action and later proceeded to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Endowments and raised their protest.
TNT TMR
