President offers prayers at Srisailam temple

Amaravati, Dec 26:  President Droupadi Murmu on Monday offered prayers at Srisailam temple in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district and laid the foundation stone for various development works.

Arriving at Sunnipenta helipad from Hyderabad by a helicopter, she was received by Andhra Pradesh Endowments Minister Kottu Satyanarayana, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, local MLA Shilpa Chakrapani Reddy, and senior officials. From there, the President reached Srisailam temple by road.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy also reached Srisailam along with the President from Hyderabad.

At the temple, Andhra Pradesh's Tourism Minister R. K. Roja, other public representatives and senior officials received President Murmu. Priests and temple officials accorded a traditional welcome to her. She had darshan at Ratnagarbha Ganapathi Swamy temple.

The President later performed Rudrabhishekam to Srisailam Mallikarjuna Swamy and Kumkumarchana to Bramarambika Devi.

She launched various projects related to the development of Srisailam Temple. Works worth Rs 43 crore were launched under National Mission of Pilgrimage Rejuvenational and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) scheme of the Union Tourism Ministry. She also visited Sri Shivaji Spoorthy Kendram at Srisailam.

Murmu later returned to Hyderabad for five-day winter sojourn.

Earlier, she had arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, in a special aircraft and later left for Srisailam by a helicopter.

Tight security arrangements were made at Srisailam for the President's visit. The temple authorities had suspended darshan for devotees and diverted traffic as part of the arrangements.