A Bangalore based gold merchant has offered ₹700 crore as ‘thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings’ he received from the deity of Kerala’s famous Chottanikkara Devi Temple.
Gaanasravan, along with his family members and top officials of the ‘Swamiji Group of Companies’, have offered to cover the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with gold plates and build a 500-bed super specialty hospital which will provide free treatment to all.
This will be the biggest hospital endowment to build a hospital that offers free treatment in South India.
“A 500-bed super speciality hospital will be established at Chottanikkara and offer free treatment to all irrespective of religion, caste or creed. We are planning to build 7 guest houses with 300 rooms each apart from a VIP guest house. An old age home with a capacity to accommodate 200 people will be established as part of the development. There will be an orphanage and an auditorium with seating capacity for 5,000 people. We will be developing Chottanikkara as an international pilgrimage centre on the lines of Tirupati,” he was quoted saying in a report by The New Indian Express.
The gold merchant will allocate ₹300 crores towards temple renovation and ₹400 crore will be spent on infrastructure development including the hospital, guest houses, auditorium, sewage treatment plant, water supply scheme and ring roads.
There will be two massive gopurams at the eastern and western entrance which will be built using laterite stones. The temple pond in front of the Keezhkavu temple will be renovated and a dining hall will be built for annadanam (free food distribution) at an expense of ₹3 crore.
Gaanasravan has also promised to help with widening the roads in the town and two ring roads will be developed to ease the traffic.
The work is to be executed by the construction wing of Gaanasravan’s company under the supervision of Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB). A joint account in the name of Swamiji Group and the CDB will be opened into which the entire amount for each phase of the work will be transferred.
The CDB will appoint a chief engineer to monitor the works, if needed. The company has agreed to pay ₹5 crore to the CDB after signing the MoU for preparatory work as per CDB member M K Sivarajan.
Gaanasravan was born in a family of musicians at a village around 80 km from Bengaluru. His Guru had told him to offer prayers at Chottanikkara temple five years ago, which is supposed to have changed his destiny. He was quoted saying that his gold business flourished and could extend trade across the globe after he visited the temple.
“I believe it is the blessings of Amma that brought me good fortune. So I decided to spend part of my earnings for the development of this temple,” he told The New Indian Express.
“We have approached the Devaswom bench of the Kerala High Court for sanction and once the court gives the nod, we will start the work within a month. We expect to start the work in January 2021 and the project will be completed within six years,” he said.