The Andhra Pradesh government started the new chariot construction work for the Antarvedi Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple on Sunday, deputing ministers and officials for the rituals. Revenue Minister Dharmana Krishnadas said the government is building a new chariot on the instructions given by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. According to the minister, the government wants to complete the chariot construction as soon as possible.
"Probe to find the culprits responsible for the chariot blaze is continuing. Whoever it is and however big they may be, the government will severely punish them when nabbed," he said.
However, he said some political parties are trying to take mileage out of the chariot issue and he called this a sad development.
As part of the rituals to build a new chariot, priests started performing the ceremonies right from the wee hours of Sunday.
Using Bastar teak, the government aims to build the chariot in three months' time, which will be identical to the old one.
On September 5, a six-decade-old wooden chariot of the famous Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Antarvedi in East Godavari district was gutted in a fire under mysterious circumstances.
The state government allocated Rs 95 lakh to build a new chariot. CM Jagan Mohan Reddy handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Scenic Antarvedi is located in the lush green Konaseema region of East Godavari district, 57 km south-east of Bhimavaram. The temple is located near the confluence of the mighty Godavari river and the Bay of Bengal on the east coast of India.
Following the Antarvedi incident, amid criticism from opposition parties that the state government had failed to safeguard the interests of Hindus in the state, the Krishna district police formed volunteer teams to protect temples. Over 500 teams of ‘Grama Raksha Dalams’ (Village Defence Squads) were formed in the district soon after the fire accident.