Maha: Cidco allots land near Navi Mumbai airport to Tirupati trust for Balaji Temple

State-run planning body CIDCO on Saturday said it had allotted a plot of land near the upcoming international airport in Ulwe in Navi Mumbai to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam to construct a temple for Lord Balaji.

A release from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited said the proposal will now be forwarded to the state government for final approval.

It will allow people from the state to have ''darshan'' without having to go all the way to Tirupati, a hugely patronised temple town in Andhra Pradesh, the release added.

The release informed that TTD chairman Subba Reddy had written a letter on February 27 this year seeking land near the upcoming airport for a Balaji Temple, after which Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked CIDCO to do the needful.

It said the plot of land that is being considered is being used as a casting yard for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Line sea-bridge project by the MMRDA, which has agreed to return it to CIDCO by September, 2023.