Hyderabad: The Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Kasibugga of Palasa town in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, where a stampede claimed ten lives on Saturday, owes its existence to the resolve of 94-year-old Hari Mukunda Panda.

A decade earlier, Panda had an unpleasant experience at Tirumala temple, where he was denied proper darshan of the presiding deity Lord Sri Venkateswara. Determined to create a similar shrine accessible to all, he devoted twelve acres and forty cents of his fifty-acre estate to build the temple, investing his own funds over six years.

Panda inaugurated the temple four months ago, even as some finishing touches remained, spending approximately Rs 2 crore on construction. The main deity is a nine-foot-nine-inch idol of Lord Venkateswara, a replica of the main idol at the T

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