The replica of Tirupati Balaji temple under construction. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Feb. 4: Worshippers of Lord Balaji can get a glimpse of their deity without making the long trip to Tirupati.

The state is all set to have its own Tirupati Balaji temple.

Construction of the temple, which is the first of its kind in Jharkhand, is well under way next to Ranchi Hill.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthan, which runs the original temple in Tirupati, has prepared the plan for the new temple.

“This is the first of its kind in the state and is also an exact replica of the original temple in Tirupati,” said Ramavtar Narsariya, leading city advocate and working president of Sri Laxmi Venkateshwara Mandir Nirman Samiti.

“Our guru Sri Ramrekha Baba wanted a temple, which will resemble the original Tirupati temple,” he added.

“That is why some other people of the city and myself have come forward to build the temple,” Narsariya said.

The main architect of the temple, A.B.L Gunanathan, is a government approved temple architect. Gunanathan hails from Tirupati.

The other 10 experts working on the temple are from Tirupati as well.

The temple will cost something in the region of Rs 40-50 lakh. The committee is expecting construction of the temple to get over within a year.

“An amount of Rs 40-50 lakh is nothing when daily offerings at Tirupati temple amount to over Rs 1 crore,” said Narsariya.

The idol of the temple will be brought from Tirupati as well. “A number of people have come forward to form the Sri Laxmi Venkateshwara Mandir Nirman Samiti,” said Dhanshyam Das Sharma, a committee member.

“We appeal to the people of Jharkhand to come forward and help us in this venture,” Das Sharma added.

Construction work started on February 17, 2002, and it was inaugurated by 108-year-old Ramrekha Baba, the man who took the initiative to build a replica of the Tirupati temple in the state.

A stumbling block for the temple can come in the form of shanties that occupy the lower region of Ranchi Hill.

Committee members will hold talks with the government to find a reasonable solution to the problem once construction work nears its end.