Tight security at major temples

The endowments department initiated extra precautionary measures at various major temples in its six-district zone, from Krishna to Srikakulam in coastal Andhra region, and beefed up the security at 45 major temples, including the Pancharama temples. This was necessitated following the security threats to major temples, to prevent any attempt by miscreants on the movable properties of these temples including jewellery.
As part of the programme, the authorities divided the temples category-wise, and took measures as per the need. These measures include the installation of closed circuit cameras (CC cameras), and increase in the number of security guards, in addition to beefing up the existing security.
Measures were also initiated to install CC cameras, where the facility was not existing.
The major temples that are being covered under the special security, include Sri Venkateswara Temple, Dwarakatirumala, Sri Veeravenkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple, Anna-varam, Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple, Visakhapatnam, Sri Varaha Nara-simha Swamy temple, Sim-hachalaam, and Kanakadurga temple, Vijayawada. This is in addition to the Pancharama temples at Samarla Kota, Drakhsharama, Palakol, Gunupudi (Bh-imavaram) and Amaravati.
The other temples at Srikurmam, Arasavilli, Prasanna Anjaneya Swamy temple at Hanuman Junction, Talupulamma Lova in East Godavari , Bala Balaji temple at Appanapalli, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swa-my temple at Antarvedi are also being covered under the special security category.
The Regional joint commissioner (RJC) of endowments for the six-district zone, Mr N. Somasekher, said on Wednesday that these measures were initiated in view of security threats, and to prevent untoward incidents of any kind at these temples.
The security at these temples will be reviewed periodically, and additional measures needed, if any, would be provided, Mr Somasekher added.