The golden chariot, built at a cost of ₹9.75 crore, was inaugurated at the temple of Lord Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Swamy at Kanipakam, 11 km from here, on Wednesday.
Chief pontiff of Sarada Peetham Sri Swaroopanandendra Saraswati, the mutt’s Uttaradhikari Sri Swatmanandendra Saraswati, Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas, Kanipakam temple authorities, and Puthalapattu MLA M.S Babu took part in the inaugural function.
The Sarada Peetham pontiff expressed happiness on this occasion, saying that the procession of the golden chariot would begin at Kanipakam temple on the lines of the Tirumala temple.
The Kanipakam Devasthanam mooted the construction of a wooden chariot for the temple in 2005, and the temple’s trust board later took a decision to gold plate the wooden structure, and for this, a hundi was arranged on the temple premises. With donations from the devotees and hundi collection, the golden chariot was made with expert artisans under the guidance of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams(TTD).
The work, which commenced in December 2020, was accomplished in September 2021.
Later, the newly-launched golden chariot carrying the processional deity was taken in a procession through the four Mada streets of Kanipakam temple.
A large number of devotees and local people thronged the temple town to have a glimpse of the event.
