HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s pet project of making the Yadadri temple town similar to the Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple in Tirumala has now become a reality.
More or less, both the temple towns — Yadadri and Tirumala — are similar while there may be a slight difference between the both in a very few minor aspects including the deities presiding over number of hills, hundi offerings and amenities.
While Tirumala has seven hills, Yadagirigutta has nine of them. However, the new name of Yadagirigutta, Yadadri also sounds similar to Seshadri, which is the other name of Tirumala.
Yadadri may not be able to compete with Tirumala in terms of footfall. On an average, around 30,000 to 50,000 devotees visit Tirumala per day and the footfall goes up to a lakh during Brahmotsavams. The number of visitors ar Yadadri have not exceeded 20,000 per day. The authorities are anticipating that the number may go up to 30,000 per day and 50,000 during weekends, after the renovation works.
Tirumala stands top among other shrines in the world in hundi offerings with 3.5 crore to 5 crore, whereas, hundi collection at Yadadri is around 4 lakh to 6 lakh per day.
Tirumala has two ghat roads. While the first ghat road is meant for bringing devotees from Tirumala down the hill, the second one is for the upward journey.
Now, Yadadri is also building two ghat roads. Tirupati has its own airport whereas the nearest airport to Yadadri is about 70 km away..
