Bhoomi Pooja was organised for the construction of Goddess Sri Padmavathi Thayar temple at GN Chetty Road, Thyagaraya Nagar in Chennai on 13th February in a piece of 6 ground (34 cents) land donated by Yesteryear Heroin Kanchana, the queen of seventies.
Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) wanted to build a Padmavathi Thayar (consort of Lord Venkateswara). On hearing this, yesteryear Airhostess turned film actor Kanchana and her sister Girija Pandey had decided to gift a piece of land measuring over six grounds worth around 50 crores in GN Chetty Road in the heart of Chennai to TTD for building a temple for Padmavathi Thayar. Bhoomi pooja or foundation stone laying ceremony was conducted on 14th of this month. Kanchi seer Vijayendra Saraswathi Sankaracharya after doing the Bhoomi pooja unveiled a stone plaque on the occasion. As part of the foundation laying ceremony, the Kanchi seer handed over cows and calves to eight temples in Tamil Nadu under the Gudiko Gomatha campaign in Tamil Nadu. He praised the TTD for spearheading the propagation of the Hindu Sanathan Dharma by constructing more and more temples across the Bharat.
The seer said building a temple dedicated to the Goddess of wealth at Chennai will user in property on the entire state. The preliminary poojas like homams were being done from 10th onwards. He appealed to the devotees to bring the Hindu Dharma to other places and conduct Cow poojas regularly. As a prelude to the foundation stone laying function, a series of religious ceremonies like Viswaksena Aradhana, Ankurarpanam were performed on February 10 and Panchasukta Homam was done on 11 and 12th. On 13th morning Kanchi seer performed Shankusthapana which included Poornahuti and installation of foundation pylon at the site.
According to TTD, Rs.7 crore has been allocated for the new temple. It plans to construct a temple in three ground land and in the remaining land Mandap, Madapalli (Kitchen to prepare food for God) godown to keep Vahanas and others will be built. AJ Sekar Reddy, a special invitee to the TTD board will donate Rs.1 crore towards the construction of the new temple, while the balance funds will be pooled in by TTD. Chairman of TTD YV Subba Reddy thanked the actress Kanchaa for donating Rs.40 crore worth of land for the building of a new temple. : In the proposed temple, a replica of the Goddess Padmavathi will be installed. The construction works are expected to be completed in 18 months’ time”, he said.
Tamil Nadu government has consented to allot 10 acre of land each on Chennai Rajiv Gandhi road and East Coast Road (ECR). Subba Reddy told media persons that TTD plans to construct Sri Venkateswara Swamy Divyashetram im Chennai city. The TN government has already given its consent to allot 15 acres of land either along the Old Mahablipuram Road ( OMR) or East Coast Road (ECR). We will soon finalise the most suitable site and commence the construction of one more TTD temple with more pilgrim amenities at the new site.
Sekar Reddy said that the first phase of the Gudiko Gomatha programme of TTD was launched in Tamil Nadu on the sidelines of the bhoomi pooja. He said “ 8 pairs of cows and calves were donated by the TTD to a set of 8 temples located in Tamil Nadu . TTD will also soon launch Kalyamasthu programme in Tamil Nadu. Bhoomi Pooja for the construction of 5th TTD temple at Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district will be held on 22nd february.
Actress Kanchana, TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy, Executive officer KS Jawahar Reddy and local advisory committee president A J Sekar were present. Kanchana ( Vasundra Devi) acted in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada Malayalam and Hindi films. The actress and her sister Girija donated their property in Chennai worth Rs.15 crore to TTD on 25th October 2010. She got back the properties after a court verdict in a case filed against her parents. She requested the TTD to build a Marriage hall or community hall or a grand temple for Lord Balaji in the site. Her sister Girija’s husband KP Pandey, a retired IAS officer of Karnataka cadre. Kanchana is an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara.
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