The Indian Railways on Monday announced that the name of Raigir railway station in Telangana has been changed to Yadadri railway station.

The South Central Railway (SCR) said that the competent authority has approved the change in the name. Raigir railway station, located on Secunderabad-Kazipet section of Secunderabad Division, will henceforth be called Yadadri railway station, it said.

Yadadri is a popular temple located about 60 km from Hyderabad. The hill shrine called Yadadri Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple is being developed by the Telangana government as a mega pilgrimage and spiritual hub.

Earlier known as Yadgirigutta, the temple was renamed as Yadadri after formation of Telangana state in 2014.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government has taken up development works of the hill temple at a total cost of Rs 1,800 crore.

A separate district with the name Yadadri Bhuvanagiri was also carved out of Nalgonda district.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao last week visited the temple complex and inspected the progress of the development works.

He desired that the temple complex should reflect and highlight the spirituality.

In 2016, the state government had requested the Railway Ministry for extending the rail network to Yadadri, as part of the phase-II works of Multi Modal Transportation System (MMTS).

The state government also offered to bear two-thirds of the estimated project cost of Rs 330 crore.

The temple was in news last year, when images of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were carved on the pillars of the temple, leading to protests by the BJP, Congress and other right-wing organizations.

Along with KCR, faces of Indira Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and other political symbols were engraved on the pillars. 

After strong opposition, the Telangana government issued orders to remove the controversial images from the temple.