Rs 100 crore eye hospital to come up in Tirupati

Tirupati

The administration of the famous Lord Venkateswara hill shrine today announced it would allot 7 acres of land owned by it in a prime locality here for setting up a Rs 100 crore eye hospital by renowned Aravind Eye Care Hospital based in Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

A decision to this effect was taken at the monthly meeting of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the cash-rich temple in Tirumala and several others here, TTD Board Chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy told reporters here.

The Aravind Eye Care System, has come forward to construct a mega eye hospital in this temple town at a cost of Rs 100 crore for the benefit of pilgrims, 10,000-strong staff of TTD and local public, he said.

TTD would collect Rs seven lakh as annual rental charge for the land to be allotted to the eye hospital here, he said.

The Aravind Eye Care Hospitals, a World Health Organisation collaborating centre for prevention of blindness, runs eye hospitals in 10 locations in Tamil Nadu.

The hospitals were named after spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo.

The TTD Board also decided to construct a Lord Venkateswara temple and also a shrine of Lord Maha Ganapathi at Banajara Hills in Hyderabad at a total cost of Rs.13.89 crore, Krishnamurthy said.

PTI